Google changes gambling policy
16th October, 2008
The big news was recently announced that Google has made the decision to now allow paid search advertising for gambling sites in the UK, which will reverse a longstanding policy of the company.
Google has been banning such interactions with the site since June of 2007, and it has caught many industry leaders and experts off guard because there was little warning of this change taking place. For the first time since the original ban, licensed gambling sites in the UK will be allow to run AdWord campaigns beginning as early as tomorrow.
The company said it will be listening and accommodating local markets a lot more, and this is part of that change. The original ban was not popular in the beginning, but the company went ahead with it anyway.
"Dennis Woodside (Google VP and MD for UK, Benelux & Ireland) and the team have been reviewing policies both from a legal and user need point of view at a local level," said James Cashmore, Google’s industry head. "I definitely think that local markets will make more decisions in the future."
The company wanted to assure everyone that this new decision was not one that came out of any last minute decisions, or having anything to do with the current economic woes around the world. Instead it is a product, according to the company, of a lengthy review of the policy.
“This is not a decision that’s been made quickly; it’s been something that’s been under discussion for months,” Cashmore said.
The policy had been under review for nearly a year and the company was consulting with a number of advertising executives in addition to the Gambling Commission before this decision was made.
