Crackdown in part a response to increasing inspection of gambling-focused content targeted at underage viewers or promoting unlicensed operators.
Google-owned video-sharing platform YouTube has announced stricter rules on gambling and gaming content. This is part of a wider effort to enforce its community guidelines. The move follows other social media platforms restricting gambling ads.
New restrictions on gambling-related videos will start on November 7. Age limits introduced for gambling-style gaming content. YouTube will review older videos and may age-restrict or remove them.
Starting November 17, Google will ban creators from uploading online gambling content with real-money value. The platform will only allow content from verified sites.
Even when games don’t involve real money, the company will start age-restricting videos that feature online-casino-style gameplay. This measure targets to limit exposure to simulated gambling content among younger audiences.
YouTube will restrict many types of videos to viewers aged 18 and older. The company will also apply new rules on the length and focus of violent gaming content. These rules will let the platform decide whether to age-restrict a video. These actions come alongside tighter oversight of violent gaming videos.
According to YouTube, it will also apply the new rules retroactively to existing videos. To comply with the updated standards, creators can edit or blur their content.
The crackdown is partly a response to increasing investigation of gambling-focused content targeted at underage viewers or promoting unlicensed operators.
For now, the New York State Gaming Commission has also taken aim at the gambling industry in Albany. This raises concerns that current approaches to problem gambling are insufficient.
At a public hearing on mobile gambling, Robert Williams, executive director of the New York State Gaming Commission, told lawmakers that intervention efforts should place more responsibility on gambling operators. He said the burden should not fall solely on individuals to seek help.
