Google’s March 23 update to its Gambling and Games certification rules is now active, and the most important change is not cosmetic. Accounts that want to advertise in gambling categories now have to demonstrate “good policy health,” while free-hosted sites, unrelated domains, third-party root subdomains, and second-level domains not owned and operated by the advertiser are out.  

For gambling affiliates, the ugly part is manager-account risk. Google says MCCs with a significant volume of revoked gambling certificates or policy-breaching managed accounts can lose the ability to apply for new certificates, and existing certifications can also be revoked. In plain arbitrage language, one messy structure can contaminate a much bigger setup.