(AsiaGameHub) – Google has removed hundreds of millions of gambling-related advertisements for violating its policies, with the tech company noting that its safety teams are operating around the clock.
Despite these efforts, Google, along with other major technology firms, continues to face regulatory scrutiny regarding the promotion of illegal gambling across various international markets.
The Alphabet subsidiary has been utilizing its Gemini AI technology to identify “bad ads”—promotions on the Google Ads network that fail to meet its standards.
In 2025, the company blocked or took down 8.3 billion advertisements, a figure roughly equivalent to one banned ad for every person on Earth, based on April 2026 Worldometer projections.
Gambling and gaming represented the eighth-largest category of prohibited advertisements, with more than 270.7 million ads removed in 2025. Additionally, the sector accounted for 123.9 million restricted ads, making it the third-largest category in that segment.
“Our teams have long used advanced AI to identify and stop scammers, and Gemini takes that work even further,” stated Keerat Sharma, Google’s Vice President and General Manager of Ads Privacy and Safety.
“Our models analyse hundreds of billions of signals — including account age, behavioural cues and campaign patterns — to stop threats before they reach people.
“Unlike earlier keyword-based systems, our latest models better understand intent, helping us spot malicious content and preemptively block it, even when it’s designed to evade detection.”
Whose ads have been removed?…
Gambling advertising has increasingly become a focal point for Google over the past year, driven by rising public and political pressure regarding the visibility of betting content—both legal and illegal—across multiple regions.
In response to concerns raised in countries including the UK, Brazil, the Netherlands, and Australia, Google has taken action. In January, Google Ireland announced that its advertising policies would be tightened starting in March 2026.
The Google Ads team in Ireland informed stakeholders that accounts experiencing repeated policy violations or certification revocations could face permanent loss of certification or the rejection of future applications.
Google’s 2025 report also highlighted significant enforcement against publishers, noting 9.7 million policy violations by gambling and gaming publishers, ranking the sector fifth in terms of page volume.
However, the report does not clarify whether the gambling platforms being promoted were licensed or unlicensed within their respective target markets.
This distinction is critical for gambling regulators demanding accountability from tech companies. The prevalence of unlicensed advertising on social media has been a frequent subject of debate in the UK, particularly regarding regulation and taxation.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, the nascent “Bets” market continues to contend with a long-standing black market that existed for decades prior to the formal legalization of the sector on January 1, 2025.
On Saturday, April 18, the Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP) issued letters to Google Brazil and Apple, demanding clarification regarding the presence of illegal betting applications on the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
According to the MJSP, these applications were not licensed by the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA), the betting regulator under Brazil’s Ministry of Finance.
The apps were identified through monitoring conducted by the General Coordination of Rating Classification of the National Secretariat of Digital Rights (SEDIGI).
The MJSP has requested that Google and Apple provide comprehensive details regarding their internal policies, screening processes, and an updated inventory of all lottery, betting, and casino applications available on their platforms.
Pressure remains high on Big Tech firms like Google and Apple, as well as social media platforms like Meta and X, to curb the spread of online gambling. Regulators in markets such as the UK and Brazil have also highlighted the use of influencers to promote illegal gambling products.
Nevertheless, Google maintains confidence in its ability to police its advertising platform. Emphasizing the effectiveness of the Gemini AI system, Sharma noted that the technology has “dramatically improved our ability to detect and stop bad ads”.
“Our systems caught over 99% of policy-violating ads before they ever served, and we’re continuing to evolve our defenses to stay ahead of even the most advanced schemes,” Sharma asserted.
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