Google extends personalised YouTube ads to prediction markets

Operators must still meet separate licensing and location requirements to advertise, and users under 18 remain ineligible for personalised ads.

US.- Google has expanded the use of personalised gambling advertising on YouTube in the US, UK and Canada, bringing prediction markets within its sensitive-category targeting rules. The change took effect on October 30. Operators in the prediction market sector must still meet a separate set of requirements to advertise, including location-based restrictions.

Personalised advertising allows businesses to reach groups based on characteristics or interests, but Google applies additional safeguards to sensitive categories such as gambling. Advertisers can use audiences predefined by Google, which the company says are configured to exclude sensitive user signals. Available categories include interests, demographics and location. However, advertisers cannot create their own customer groups for campaigns involving sensitive categories.

To advertise prediction-market products, businesses must hold “all applicable local financial, commodity, and/or gaming licences”, according to Google’s policy. The approved locations currently include parts of the US, with Connecticut, Michigan, Nevada, New York and Ohio excluded. The UK and Canada are not included in the list.

In the US, the requirements cover qualifying exchanges authorised by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and brokerages authorised by the National Futures Association (NFA), provided they offer access to specified exchange-listed products. Google prohibits advertisements for binary options that offer a fixed payout or no payout depending on movements in a financial asset’s price.

Google’s broader gambling advertising policy continues to require advertisers to obtain certification, comply with local licensing rules, provide responsible gambling information and must not target minors. An update to Google’s gambling advertising certification process on September 14 extended the “good policy health” checks that the company began applying in selected gambling markets in March 2026 to every category covered by the Gambling and Games Policy.