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Google has blocked hundreds of millions of gambling advertisements for violating its regulations, with the internet company claiming that its safety specialists have been working “around the clock”. Despite its efforts, Google remains in the regulatory crosshairs for illegal gambling in many markets, along with some of its Big Tech businesses. Alphabet’s IT and internet division has been using Gemini AI engine to detect what it refers to as “bad ads” – advertisements published on the Google Ads marketplace that violate its rules and guidelines.
In 2025, it prohibited or eliminated 8.3 billion in advertising, which equals approximately one banned advertisement for every person on the planet (Worldmeter’s April 2026 estimate). Gambling and gaming ranked ninth among all banned ads in 2025, with approximately 270.7 million ads blocked or removed. The sector was also the third largest category for restricted ads, with 123.9 million.
Which of the advertisements were removed?
Over the past year or two, Google has been increasingly aware of gambling advertising due to growing public and governmental concerns about the visibility of betting content for both legal and illegal platforms in several markets. The company also addressed concerns that have been voiced in a wide range of nations, including the UK, Brazil, the Netherlands, and Australia. Google Ireland, the company’s European division, declared in January that advertising regulations would become tougher at the start of March 2026. Relevant parties were informed by Google Ireland’s Google Ads team that accounts “that face repeated certification revocation or violations” may have their certifications revoked or have their subsequent Google Ads certification applications denied.
What we know based on the report
Google disclosed massive enforcement measures against publishers in its 2025 report. When public policy breaches were broken down by page volume, gambling and game publishers had 9.7 million violations, marking them fifth. The nature of these iGaming sites, in detail, whether or not operators were using Google Ads to promote themselves in the countries they were targeting, has not been disclosed in the paper.
Given the demand that gambling regulators are making of large online companies, this is a really huge question. For example, in the UK, over the past year, the presence of unlawful advertising on social media has been mentioned several times in the context of an argument on taxation and regulation.
Brazil In the Picture
In the meantime, Brazil’s still relatively young “bets” industry is still fighting against a black market that has existed for many decades before the regulated market was introduced and established last year. Google Brazil and Apple received letters from the Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Public Security just 2 days ago, asking for “clarifications about the availability of illegal betting applications” in the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. The Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA), Brazil’s betting regulator under the Ministry of Finance, had not granted these gambling apps a license, according to the MJSP. The National Secretariat of Digital Rights’ General Coordination of Rating Classification (SEDIGI) monitored the apps and found them.
The MJSP has ordered Google and Apple to post an updated list of all programs in the lottery, betting, and casino categories on each company’s store, as well as detailed explanations of corporate policies and pre-screening processes.
Big Tech companies such as Apple and Google, as well as social media giants such as Meta and X, are still under pressure to stop the spread of online gambling. Regulators in a number of markets, including the UK and Brazil, have also mentioned the use of influencers to promote illegal products.
However, the Californian tech giant is sure that its efforts are paying off when it comes to regulating its Google Ads platform. In particular, it has faith in the Gemini AI system, which Google’s Sharma claims has “drastically improved our ability to detect and stop bad ads”.
Source: sbcnews.co.uk
