Gambling ads amongst those banned from slot on top of YouTube’s homepage

YouTube will no longer display adverts relating to gambling, as well as alcohol, politics, and prescription drugs on its masthead ad slot, appearing at the top of its website and app.

The slot at the top of YouTube's homepage is one of the most prominent positions on one of the world's most visited websites.

Under the new rules, "assets that depict or reference gambling-related content, including offline gambling, online gambling, online non-casino games, and social casino games", will be banned from the slot.

According to YouTube, ads in the masthead slot can "drive massive reach or awareness", so the ban might represent a costly loss for the gambling industry.

It is only the latest measure by YouTube to limit the reach of gambling related advertising on its platform.

In comments to AXIOS, which first reported on the change, a spokesperson for YouTube owner Google, commented: "We believe this update will build on changes we made last year to the masthead reservation process and will lead to a better experience for users".

In December, the company rolled out a feature for users to limit how many gambling and alcohol-related adverts they're shown. The company already has a rigorous system of restrictions designed to limit certain categories of advertising based on age and national laws, but the change allowed users to apply those limits to themselves.