Web Engines Plan to End Online Ads for Gambling

Google and Yahoo have decided to stop running ads on their sites for internet gambling, reports the New York Times (free registration required). One motivating factor was federal lawyers threatening action against corporations doing business with offshore internet casinos, which are illegal in the United States. The NYT says that the search engines’ decision may have a big impact on these casinos’ business, and also mentions that the U.S.’s action may violate free trade agreements with the WTO.

April 5, 2004 by Uncategorized 7

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7 Responses

  1. djfiander says:
    April 5, 2004 at 10:55 pm

    US rules DO violate WTO regulations

    From the Business This Week section of the March 27, 2004 Economist:

    World Trade Organisation panel ruled that America’s restrictions on online gambling broke the trade club’s rules. The case was brought by Antigua and Barbuda, a Caribbean state that is home to some 30 online betting operations.

    Reply
  2. mcbride says:
    April 5, 2004 at 11:05 pm

    Already have enough
    Thanks to Google and Yahoo, I’ve now lost all my self control and gambled away my life savings. In the spirit of tobacco and hot coffee lawsuits, can I sue the big internet giants for starting my gambling problem? The fact that they have dropped the ads is a sign they new of the dangers and failed to protect me.

    Cha-Ching.

    Reply
  3. mcbride says:
    April 5, 2004 at 11:36 pm

    Re:Already have enough
    My gambling problem is so bad now that I’ve bet that my previous post gets a score of a ‘5’ before the end of the day. Hey, I got 5-2 odds on it. Anyone know the over/under on that?

    Reply
  4. mcbride says:
    April 6, 2004 at 4:18 am

    Re:Already have enough
    Haha……gotta call the bookie to pay up on this one.

    Now, who wants some action on the next internet filtering piece?

    Reply
  5. mdoneil says:
    April 6, 2004 at 5:23 am

    American gambler did not have to pay gambling debt
    It is impossible to use a credit card issued by a US bank to gamble online. Some idiot who lost $70K sued her credit card companies because she refused to pay. Amazingly she won. (OK this was in California – they apparently have a different legal system than the United States)
    http://news.com.com/2100-1023-213705.html?legacy=c net

    I can see where the WTO would say that the sites based outside the US had no obligation to block US customers, but I cannot really understand how they can object to Google or Yahoo not carrying their ads. Newspapers can reject offensive ads, I can’t see why search engines cannot.

    That woman is lucky she used a credit card and not a bookie or she would be dead. I occasionally wager on such things as the super bowl or world cup, or even the presidential election, but I set up the account at Paddy Power in Dublin in person. I can afford to lose that 100 Euro.

    Reply
  6. Bibliofuture says:
    April 6, 2004 at 6:18 pm

    Re:US rules DO violate WTO regulations
    The WTO ruled but they have no teeth to enforce the ruling. Antigua and Barbuda were the island countries that brought the action. If the U.S. continues to refuse to allow online gambling all these countries can do is declare a trade war on the U.S. Let me tell you, a trade war against the U.S. by Antigua and Barbuda is not one of our big worries.

    Reply
  7. djfiander says:
    April 6, 2004 at 6:26 pm

    Re:US rules DO violate WTO regulations
    Well, yeah. But the original article said that the US rules MAY violate the treaty. I was just pointing out the the US is, in fact, violating the treaty (and I am shocked, absolutely shocked).

    Reply

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