9 replies to this topic

[EGOL]

I just got an email message from google letting me know that I can opt into receiving ads for gambling on my website. (I've always believed that linking to a gambling site would get me kicked out of the SERPs. Maybe I was wrong.)

"...beginning on September 27, we're expanding the inventory of Google ads eligible to show on the AdSense network to include gambling-related ads from trusted advertisers."

http://adwords.googl...p;answer=176014

When I read the details about this I think that I am not smart enough to understand them. So, should I opt into these ads or should I not?

Are you going to allow them?

[Dr.Marie]

I wouldn't simply for the reason that I think it will make my site look spammy. Any site I've ever been to with gambling ads is one I quickly run away from (not because of the ads directly, but because it's a poor site.)

[DonnaFontenot]

I wouldn't, for the same reasons as Dr. Marie, as well as the fact that the complicated nature of the "rules" makes it all too easy to accidentally shoot one's self in the foot.

[iamlost]

My concerns:
---your link is to AdWords Help, in other words it is saying who is eligible to buy AdWords gaming ads and limitations on here they will be shown.
---note that the USA is NOT on the list of allowable countries in either instance.

As the USA does not allow gaming AdSense doesn't even allow you to block such ads, Block ads by sensitive category , AdSense Help.

Depending on your country, you might not see all of the categories listed below on your sensitive categories page. For example, if gambling is not permitted in your country, the Gambling opt-in sensitive category is not be available.

So...do you have the option to block gaming ads? If not then the above still holds and the email is, ah, pointless?

You aren't alone in receiving that email. And no one seems to understand why, given the above. Weird or what? Or simply a badly targeted email list...

I'm not sure that I'd want to allow/show gaming ads if I were in the US, or wanting to visit the US...your regulations and enforcement thereof is sometimes scary...

[bwelford]

Thankfully Canada is one of the countries where we are not given the choice, even though I got the memo. :

At this time, legislation in Canada, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Czech Republic, and Israel does not allow the promotion of online gambling ads, except by state licensed entities. Therefore, Google AdWords does not currently accept applications for online gambling in these countries.

[jonbey]

Unless you run a gambling related site I would guess that there is not a lot to worry about.

[EGOL]

I wouldn't simply for the reason that I think it will make my site look spammy.

I agree... but I bet that the CPC on these ads are 30x higher than what I am currently getting.

the USA is NOT on the list of allowable countries in either instance

Part of the fog on this topic is online gambling vs brick and mortar gambling. A new casino is supposed to be built just a few miles away from my office... so gambling is going to be legal around here.... and if the brick and mortar sites advertise on LocalKeyword domains then local websites might make a bunch of money. Their ads might be... Visit Charity's Resort and Casino. No gambling will take place on the site - you gotta do it at the resort.

I'm not sure that I'd want to allow/show gaming ads if I were in the US

States sanction gambling in the USA... they sell daily drawing lottery tickets, scratch off tickets, horse racing, dog racing... I see the state advertising their gambling every night during prime time TV news - so the TV station is being paid for that ad. And, if the state decides to buy adwords then why would a publisher be in trouble if google sends them to his website? Why would that publisher be a villan and the TV station not?

I have never heard anyone condem a TV station for showing a lottery ad... yet some hold websites to a different standard?

I will probably not allow gambling ads on my site because I agree with Donna and Marie - they will make my site stink... However, I think that this is an interesting question.

Actually, a lot of publishers would like to see google provide a matrix for these opt-ins. They might want to allow these ads on some of their sites but not on others. The current method is for an entire adsense account.

[jocelyn]

When it was allowed, my poker channel, about 12 pages, was getting over 50$/day just from those types of adsence ads... till the crap hit the fan and those good ads went bye-bye... got replaced with deck of cards, rule books... super high ECPM on 5-10$ items... and I BET this wont change a thing... but who knows... I have nice traffic in France...

[SEOigloo]

EGOL,

Indian Gaming is becoming bigger and bigger in California (actually, it's always been part of Native culture here, but now it has become a public thing). I've never actually been to a casino but I'm in support of whatever projects Indigenous cultures want to undertake in this state.

So, let's say I had a site that had certain types of local or regional information on it. Perhaps the site has a cultural slant, a historic slant, a focus on tourism or local laws or scenic drives and sites. If I had some content on the site that could tie in with this type of gaming, I don't see a reason to disallow it.

Unfortunately, the options to be selective about this probably aren't there and I might not have enough control over which ads appear. For example, I think dog racing is terrible. I wouldn't want ads like that to appear, but if Adsense would allow me to promote Indian Gaming establishments on my site and there was a natural tie-in with my content, I don't see a problem with this. But, I don't know the filtering features of AdSense well enough to say whether you could get enough control over the types of ads to be comfortable with all of them. That's the problem.

[jocelyn]

Not only this... you see ads that are related, but usually local. So, you might see the dog racing ad here and filer it... it doesn't mean a guy in Iceland won't get those when browsing your site... but that's the game for all of them anyway... you can only filter what you see... and hope they are cool in other parts of the world.