Bookmakers and online casinos can now advertise on Google, in the UK.
Yesterday Google received royal approval when the Queen, but was condemned as “irresponsible” by MPs and church leaders for lifting its four-year ban and allowing gambling companies to buy “sponsored links” on its site in Britain.
Google introduced a global ban on gambling adverts on its site in 2004, but decided to end it for British customers after rules on television advertising for bookmakers, casinos and gambling websites were relaxed.
Google insisted that all advertisers using the service would have to be regulated in Britain or Europe and would have to have internet links to organisations helping problem gamblers. But critics condemned the move, saying the adverts could attract people hit by the global economic downturn.
Google insisted that its UK-based advertisers would have to be registered with the British Gambling Commission before advertising, while European operators would also have to be licensed in their home country. All would have to have links to the GamCare website. This news has given rise to some new Casino portals / directories in the UK, such as Casino Marker – UK’s Street Casino Directory.
James Cashmore of Google said: “We’ve decided to amend our policy to allow text ads to appear against search queries related to gambling in Great Britain. We hope this will enhance the search experience for users and help advertisers connect with interested consumers. Gambling ads will automatically be classified as Non-Family Safe which means they will not show on any search where the user has applied the Safe Search filter.”
