Key Moments:
- YouTube will enforce expanded guidelines on gambling content involving digital items from November 17, 2025.
- Only gambling content that links to Google Ads-certified, locally compliant sites will be allowed.
- New rules closely follow similar measures taken by Twitch regarding sponsored skin gambling.
Policy Change Targets Skin Gambling and NFTs
YouTube has announced that it will implement stricter controls starting November 17, 2025, on videos and promotions tying gambling to digital items, such as in-game cosmetics, skins, and NFTs, that can be exchanged for cash. This marks the platform’s initial major move to address gambling related to tradable assets from gaming environments.
Certified Sites and Legal Compliance Required
The revised Community Guidelines specify that YouTube will only permit gambling content that includes links to Google Ads-certified platforms in compliance with local laws. This shift reflects growing concern over the blending of gambling and gaming, particularly with increasing access for younger audiences.
Impact on Counter-Strike 2 and Gaming Communities
These changes have significant implications for communities such as Counter-Strike 2. Within this ecosystem, players actively trade weapon skins, many of which command high market values. Third-party services have facilitated gambling with these skins—on esports events or through roulette-like mechanisms—blurring the line between cosmetic items and currency. YouTube’s policy aligns with steps taken by Twitch in 2023 to ban sponsorships from skin gambling websites, though Twitch’s enforcement record has been inconsistent.
YouTube is banning ads for gambling with video game items that have real monetary value, such as Counter-Strike 2 skins
Skin gambling sites will only be allowed if "certified by Google" pic.twitter.com/iF9h5WW2wE
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) October 28, 2025
Additional Restrictions and Market Volatility
YouTube will also begin age-restricting videos depicting casino-style gameplay without real-money wagering and increase scrutiny around gaming footage that simulates realistic violence. These updates follow a major Counter-Strike 2 patch from Valve, which led to an approximate fifty percent drop in skin valuations, highlighting the instability of digital markets tied to gaming.
YouTube’s Broader Rationale
With these stricter measures, YouTube aims to exclude unregulated gambling activity from its platform and adapt to evolving regulatory demands. These actions underscore the complexity arising when gambling intersects with digital entertainment and reveal the company’s intent to shield users from escalating risks related to digital assets, esports wagering, and NFTs.
- Author
Daniel Williams
