Google is getting ready to change its advertising policies around the evolving U.S. gambling landscape.

The company plans to ease up on online casino advertising and get rid of a sweeping ban on the industry, according to an report from EGR.

Changes are reportedly set to take hold by the first quarter of 2020 as the company looks to take advantage of the growing industry in the U.S. market. New Jersey and Delaware joined Nevada by legalizing online gambling in 2012-13, but Google continued to ban online casino ads in those states.

Google has long held a nationwide restriction on the online casino ads, though it recently changed its policy on sports betting ads in some states following the May 2018 Supreme Court decision allowing individual states to legalize sports gambling.

Earlier this month the tech giant updated its gambling and games policy, stating it will allow sports betting ads in Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Google had previously lifted the ban for Nevada, New Jersey and West Virginia. The company also announced in its update that it will allow online gambling ads in Kenya, Nigeria and Colombia.

Google Policy on Casino Ads Evolves

The company began allowing ads for legal online sports betting in June for Google users in New Jersey. Licensed New Jersey gaming operators were allowed to apply for Google AdWords and “All who (had) been granted a license in New Jersey and are operating (applied),” Google Industry Head of Financial Trading and Egaming Chris Harrison told Gambling.com through email in August.

During an April interview, Harrison emphasized Google is not interested in becoming a gambling company and is sticking to its role as a technology and advertising partner. At that time, Harrison said the company was working on options for the newly unveiled policy, a challenge made difficult by inconsistent state-by-state legislation.

“For us, regulation is a huge signal and will be the building block of anything we do,” Harrison said. “We also take into consideration the norms and acceptance of gambling in any given state. We have to recognize customer concerns and face those as well. So it’s far from black or white in terms of opening up and allowing advertisers to use Google’s products and platforms.”

Thursday’s report suggests significant progress has since been made as Google continues to evolve its advertising stance with the entire industry.

https://www.gambling.com/news/online-casinos-can-advertise-on-google-in-2020-as-ban-ends-2118400