The online search engine, Google has announced that it is partially reversing a policy against accepting gambling advertisements. The company announced that its decision over the last year to ban gaming ads will no longer be applicable to England, Scotland, and Wales.

The online search has said that its corporate motto is “Don’t be evil,” and made implications that the ban on gambling ads was part of a decision to protect the public from such other promotions as those for guns, prostitution, and so-called miracle cures. However, Google did not find gaming unethical until the company was forced to settle with the U.S. Department of Justice.

In that matter, it paid a fine for having accepted ads for online casinos. The removal of any future ads prevented Google from another legal headache with the U.S. government.

Google is presently facing a stock value that is off by almost fifty percent, largely due to declining revenues as advertising dollars are harder to come by in the struggling economy. Internet gambling advertisements represent a huge source of income.

The search engine has defended its policy change by saying it preferred to localize such decisions to comply with local customs and traditions. Online gambling is legal in Britain. Of course, if that logic were extended, then prostitution ads would be alright in parts of Nevada, and firearms could be pushed in Texas and Florida.

Google says only licensed gambling establishments will qualify as advertisers. Any ads accepted will be coded non-family-safe, which allows parental control software to block them.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 18th, 2008 at 4:59 pm and is filed under casino gambling, online casino news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.