Published on: November 1, 2025, at 10:05 AM.
Updated on: November 1, 2025, at 10:05 AM.
- Google bans advertising for sweepstakes casinos
- Recent changes to Google’s social gaming ad policies exclude sweepstakes platforms
In a significant policy update, Google has prohibited the promotion of sweepstakes casinos on its advertising platform, affecting one of the most prominent search engines globally.
According to Google, the goal of this policy revision is to promote “a reliable and transparent digital advertising ecosystem” for users, advertisers, and publishers alike. This latest adjustment directly removes sweepstakes casinos from acceptable advertising for social gaming.
The update is concise, adding just one line:
“Examples of games that do not qualify as social casino games include sweepstakes casinos,” the updated policy states.
Google categorizes social casino games as “online simulated gambling experiences where players cannot win actual money or valuable prizes.”
Advertising for Social Casinos
To advertise, social casinos must obtain Google Ads certification.
To acquire this certification, social casinos are required to meet various criteria, such as including disclaimers that the services are intended exclusively for users who are of legal gambling age. Furthermore, they must possess a valid license for their games in the countries they target and clarify that their games do not offer real money or “real-world value” rewards while informing users about any in-app purchases.
Moreover, social casinos are forbidden from using logos, branding, or likenesses associated with actual money gambling. With the new regulations in place, sweepstakes casinos have lost their eligibility for Google Ads certification.
According to Google’s recent update on October 28, 2025, the Gambling and Games policy was revised to specify types of games that do not qualify for certification under their social casino policy, explicitly naming sweepstakes casinos. These are categorized as games that do not align with the social casino games policy, thereby disqualifying them from certification. Games that offer real-world rewards will follow the detailed stipulations of the online gambling policy,” as noted in Google’s advertising policy change log.
In 2024, Google generated an estimated $265 billion in advertising revenue, largely from its “Search” and YouTube platforms.
Understanding Sweepstakes Dual Currency
Sweepstakes casinos provide an avenue for players to gamble via free-to-play slots and table games, but they also allow for real money gambling through a secondary digital token known as “sweeps coins.”
Operators of sweepstakes posit that the sweeps coins, which are given in exchange for monetary purchases, are exclusively for playing games and cannot be “cashed out.” Instead, they argue that these coins can only be “redeemed.”
However, a consensus among legal experts and attorneys general indicates that many sweepstakes casinos are ambiguously structured operations that aim to bypass state gambling laws. Multiple states have issued cease-and-desist orders against major platforms, while several notable operators are currently embroiled in legal disputes nationwide.
Certain states, such as California, Connecticut, Montana, Nevada, and New Jersey, have outright banned sweepstakes casinos. Additionally, states like Delaware, Idaho, Michigan, New York, and Washington have enacted restrictions through their gaming regulatory bodies.