If you are the developer of a real-money gaming app, it's almost inevitable you will use digital advertising to promote your product. Digital advertising is crucial for brands and can make or break a business.
However, real money and gambling games have a big challenge with regulatory bodies, making advertising difficult. Social media companies are particularly cautious about publishing gambling ads to ensure they don't promote unlicensed gambling to underage users. They've set up strict policies to regulate real money advertising to ensure advertisers of gambling products promote without exploiting or glorifying these games.
Those who violate these regulations have their ad accounts banned. Understanding the legalities surrounding real money game ads means you are less likely to encounter problems when promoting.
Let's look at the policies on gambling ads you must know to advertise successfully on social media.
Here are the channel level regulatory requirements you need to know before publishing ads for your real money gaming app.
Facebook has put in place strict measures to regulate the promotion of gambling and gaming apps on the platform. Promoters of real money game ads now require prior written permission from Facebook to have their ads published on the platform.
This includes games where players must deposit anything of monetary value (cash or digital currency like bitcoin) to play. The regulations also apply to games where the players compete for a prize with real money value. Authorized advertisers for these types of games must adhere to all the prescribed laws, including following all the legal requirements when targeting their ads. At a minimum, Facebook demands that advertisers not target users below 18 when promoting their games.
Examples of games that need Facebook's permission to advertise on the platform include betting, lottery, fantasy sports, poker, bingo, and sweepstake themes — if they use real-life money. The same applies to sites that link to content that facilitate online gambling, such as affiliate or aggregator sites for online gaming.
However, these regulations don’t apply for certain activities such as:
Google supports responsible gaming and doesn’t allow certain gambling-related ads on its network. Real-money game ads must comply with its policies, and advertisers need the proper Google Ads certification to advertise on the platform. The ads should only target the countries and regions that have approved online gambling and have a landing page that educates users about responsible gambling.
Below are examples of gambling-related content that Google allows under certain conditions.
Google places no restrictions on offline gaming activities such as the promotion of physical gambling establishments and offline real money gambling activities.
For you to advertise your real money online game, you must be certified by Google. The advertising activities that require Google certification include:
All online games where players pay money or wager other items of value in exchange for the opportunity to win real money or other prizes need prior approval from Google to promote their games. Examples of games in this category include online chess tournaments, fantasy sports, and match-3 games for real money or other prizes.
Reddit has a strict advertising policy for gambling and gaming-related services to ensure promoters of such games can advertise without exploiting users or glorifying gambling. Real-money gaming ads are permitted on the platform but must follow specific regulations. First, the advertisers must be pre-approved and work with Reddit’s advertising team to ensure compliance. Casino game advertising must also adhere to the relevant local laws and can only target countries supporting gambling advertising.
The ads that are targeted by this policy are those that promote games of chance or online services where real money or other valuable items are exchanged or at stake, such as:
However, Reddit has prohibitions for certain gaming and gambling ads. This includes:
There are exceptions to this policy for free-to-play games where there's no money exchanged or at stake. Physical casinos that don't emphasize gambling content also don't have to meet all these strict regulations to have their ads published on the platform.
Twitter has amazing ad formats to help you advertise your real money game to the right audience. But for your ads to be published here, they must adhere to Twitter’s policy. Twitter only allows campaigns that target specific countries where gambling is allowed. Advertisers also need prior authorization from Twitter and must stay in contact with the advertising team to ensure their gambling ads adhere to the regulations.
The products or services that are subject to this policy include:
The products that aren’t subject to this policy include:
Here are other considerations you need to make when advertising your real money game app on different social networks.
When running promotions for your gambling ad, explaining all the significant conditions clearly is important. Players should understand your game by simply looking at the ad. They should know what's at stake and what they stand to win when they play the game. The ad shouldn't be ambiguous or misleading to attract more users to your game. This will put you in trouble with the law, and your ad account may be banned or suspended.
You must also consider regional regulations when advertising your real money game. Advertising needs to be approved for that country, with proof that gambling or online gaming is legal in that jurisdiction. As an advertiser, you must research your target location to determine if you can advertise a gambling game in that region. Social media sites may have this information, but it’s up to you to check the country’s regulations on online gambling to ensure you are doing the right thing. We cannot stress enough that you must be certain of these restrictions.
Since regular ads are highly regulated, you can use influencers to promote your real money game. Influencers may already have the audience you are trying to attract, making influencers a viable promotion channel for your fun. So, when they talk positively about your game to their followers, you will be able to attract valuable users who trust your influencers to help them find the best products that add value to their life.
When choosing influencers to work with for your game, pick those that are already obsessed with your game. Searching your brand name and hashtags on your preferred social channels will identify the influencers with a keen interest in your game. Bring these content creators on board and ask them to share pre-registration bonuses and other incentives with their followers. Note that for best results, you should still be very clear about what your game offers, what users can win, and have country-specific considerations in place.
Organic marketing is great, but it won’t take you all the way to game marketing success! Don’t be afraid to invest in paid advertising, as it can help you generate the reach and engagement you need. Still not convinced? Check out The Complete Paid Marketing Guide for Video Games!
Promoters of gambling ads must follow strict regulations to have their promotional messages published on different social media sites. This makes it hard to effectively promote your game on the platform since you don’t know which restrictions you might break and lose your ad account forever.
Don’t get lost in the regulations — Game Marketing Genie is here to help. We have experience running highly successful campaigns for casino-based and real-money games. We know how to promote your game to the right audience while following all the rules and regulations.
Get in touch to talk to our advertising experts today.