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How to opt out of seeing gambling-related ads on YouTube

YouTube provides users with the ability to opt-out of seeing gambling advertising on its platform by adjusting the preferences within Google Ad Settings. It is important to remember that the ability to adjust settings to help limit the ads you see on YouTube can only be accessed if you have a Google account.

A Google account is a username and password that can be used to access various Google products. You can read more about Google accounts (opens in new tab).

How to control the gambling-related ads you see on YouTube

1. First, ensure you are logged in to your Google account.
2. Visit the Google Ad settings (opens in new tab) in a web browser on your computer, phone, or tablet.
3. At the top of this page is an “Ad Personalization” heading with a toggle switch. You can switch the toggle to ‘Off’ to disable ad personalization completely. However, in order to maintain a level of control over the types of ads you will see, you need to ensure that “Ad Personalization” is switched ‘On’.
4. Below this, you will see the ‘How your ads are personalized section’. Here you will see a list of your ‘interests’.
5. Scroll down past this to the “Ad Categories on YouTube” section.
6. You will see two categories here; “Alcohol” and “Gambling.” Click “See Fewer” next to the types of ads you no longer want to see.
7. A pop-up message will ask you to confirm. Click “Continue.”
8. You’ll notice that under the category (or categories) you selected, it now says, “We’ll try not to show ads from this category.” Google won’t guarantee that you won’t see any ads from the categories you selected. However, you should see less of them in the future.
9. You may still see gambling ads if you search for one of those topics or if you watch a video related to these topics.

Whilst following these steps may not prevent you from seeing all gambling ads completely, it should limit them as much as possible. You can also read more about how to limit gambling-related content on Twitter and on Facebook.

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Last updated: 22 October 2024

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