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Online Gambling Ads on YouTube: Double Standards or Unclarity?

Online Gambling Ads on YouTube: Double Standards or Unclarity?

While the online casino market worldwide has rapidly been growing, the competition level is undoubtedly increasing as well. Operators try to find the best traffic channels and the most effective strategies to engage new consumers. GBC Time has collected the most interesting facts about YouTube gambling ad restrictions and the most scandalous cases of banning iGaming videos on the platform.

Online gambling has always been an intriguing subject to discuss. Some are sure that this kind of entertainment should not be promoted on social media because of the highly sensitive users. But still, there is a popular opinion of acceptance of online gambling advertising provided by the proper regulation and responsible playing.

Such social media giants as YouTube and its parent company – Google are still trying to figure out a fair system for gambling ads. However, when it comes to iGaming ads, history can tell us plenty of stories and cases with double standards.

Unexpected bans and removal: how YouTube deleted gambling ads

2018 was definitely a non-easy period for gambling content creators. Back then, YouTube banned tons of channels about gambling. Sometimes, even the live streams were shut down because of the content restrictions on the platform. The most interesting factor at that time was the lack of specific policies that would dictate the rules.

After this huge wave of the massive gambling content ban, the users were disappointed. As a reply and explanation, YouTube made a tweet:

Online Gambling Ads on YouTube: Double Standards or Unclarity?

YouTube’s office agreed on the groundlessness of such decisions, but some of the content creators could not trust the platform further.

Another strange ban – How Phillion lost his channel

Phillion is a popular content creator with a huge audience of more than 600 000 subscribers. His past experience as a journalist helps him to run an interesting topic for discussions on his live streams. Therefore, his audience is loyal and constantly active in his video’s comment section.

Since his main focus is online gambling, he posted a video about online casino marketing on YouTube and other social media platforms. YouTube approved the video, but after it gained thousands of views, the office decided to block it anyway. As the cause for such a decision, YouTube mentioned an apparent promotion of gambling.

Gambling ads regulation on YouTube

Despite all of the unclear reasons and suspicious cases of banning channels, there is still a set of rules. You can check the Google regulation of gaming on the platforms at the link https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6018017?hl=en

Considering the gambling ads rules, Google states that “Gambling ads must target approved countries, have a landing page that displays information about responsible gambling, and never target minors.”

But still, sometimes, content creators face challenges and restrictions even while following all the rules.

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