Gambling advertisers targeting African markets will face enhanced eligibility checks. They must pass these checks before they can receive or retain certification to advertise on Google platforms.
Starting March 23 this year, Google will enforce stricter rules for gambling advertisers across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Analysts expect this move to hit the African gambling industry hard. Operators increasingly rely on digital ads to reach consumers.
Gambling advertisers targeting African markets will face enhanced eligibility checks. They must pass these checks before receiving or retaining certification to advertise on Google platforms under the updated Gambling and Games policy.
The new framework places greater emphasis on a compliance history of an advertiser. This includes past policy violations, current conduct and declared commitments to future compliance. Advertisers with repeated breaches or recently revoked certifications may be denied approval or stripped of existing certification.
The policy change raises the bar for African gambling operators in one of the continent’s most important digital advertising channels. Many licensed betting and gaming platforms in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa rely on Google Ads as their main marketing tool, especially as mobile and online betting continue to grow across the region. Experts expect the stricter scrutiny to push operators to strengthen internal compliance systems and align more closely with both local regulations and Google’s global standards.
Google is tightening technical requirements for gambling websites in addition to tougher eligibility checks. Google will ban free hosting services, and gambling platforms cannot operate as subdomains under third-party providers. Advertisers must show a direct connection to the licensed gambling industry and meet Google’s domain ownership requirements. They must also implement measures to filter out unlicensed operators and reduce exposure to fraudulent or misleading ads.
