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Google, Yahoo Impose Ad Ban on Online Casinos
The popular online search engines run by Google Inc. and Yahoo! Inc.
are banning ads from online casinos, reacting to a federal crackdown on
Internet gambling.
Mountain View, Calif.-based Google expects to drop all casino ads by
the end of this month. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo is simultaneously
phasing out the casino ads in its U.S. market, but allowing them to
continue to appear in 14 countries where the company operates Web sites.
Yahoo’s decision also affects Microsoft Corp.’s MSN site, whose
search engine depends on a Yahoo subsidiary, Overture Services, for its
online casino ads.
Both Google and Yahoo are imposing the ban as federal authorities
increase the pressure on the media to stop "aiding and abetting"
offshore Internet casinos that have been illegally accepting bets in the
United States.
The push recently prompted broadcast giants Clear Channel
Communications and Infinity Broadcasting to stop broadcasting the ads of
illegal online casinos.
Overture spokeswoman Jennifer Stephens attributed the casino ban to a
"lack of clarity in the current environment" and a desire to conform
with its parent company’s policies. Yahoo stopped accepting banner ads
from online casinos in 2002.
Google believes its action will help "provide the best search and
advertising experience for its users."
Critics of the advertising ban against online casinos say it
compromises the media’s right to distribute information.
Read the
entire article at:
SFGate.com
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