Google and Gambling Ads

[tripnbilly]

I am wondering if any one else is having any trouble with their advertising lately? I am guessing my recent ad campaign was rejected by Google due to the settlement issue regarding online gambling. Here is a copy of the e-mail that I received from them:
Thank you for your email. I understand you are concerned as your ad was
disapproved for our online gambling policy.
Richard, please note that we've thought very hard about our stance on
online gambling advertising. Based on business considerations, we have
decided not to permit advertisements for online gambling, gaming, and
related content. To be as consistent and fair as possible, this is a
global policy, applied to all online gambling advertisers and affiliates.
We stand behind our decision, and as noted in our advertising Terms and
Conditions, Google may refuse any ads or terminate any of your ad
campaigns at any time, for any reason. This only concerns our advertising
and in no way affects the search results we deliver. Google offers broad
access to content across the web without censoring results.
We appreciate your comments on this issue, which will help inform our
future policy discussions. Thank you for taking the time to write us.

So, does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on getting around this, since Google is the big kahuna of search engines? Are there other advertising venues that could be used to achieve desired results?

[TaLu]

Its a little funny because Google have a lot of gambling publishers that have years promoting online casinos and dont have any problems, but if you are a little client, you cant promote any gamling site due the US gambling enforcement law, Google play the "blind" when some client are "fat" or "big" fishes

[Fortune Palace]

To be honest, I think you've done well to even get a response from them!

When I first tried Adwords with my gambling site they rejected all the ads within 15 minutes, then closed down my account within a day. All my emails went unanswered until I eventually gave up.

Anyway, I'm glad PPC's not allowed for gambling on Google as it gives us little fish some possibility of getting some traffic. Try and break into financial affiliate marketing without a huge bankroll, and you'll see what I mean!

[helpyou]

you don't worry Fortune Place.

you could use other programmer : adbirght or bidvertiser.
( hower I know that google is the best )

[chill]

Google offers broad access to content across the web without censoring results.

Really, did they forget the chinese connection in the reply?

[Tony]

I try to use them (Google) in 2005 but they told me no, at the time they had Sponsored Links for gambling but not from north America well now they don't serve Sponsored Links, if you search for any word realated to gambling at Google they don't have sponsored kinks. I'm not supriged they just got a big fine check this out; xxxhttp://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20071219/microsoft-google-yahoo-gambling-fines-fees.htm

[Tony]

Sorry, I post twice the same thing

[Simmo!]

It beats me why they dont allow it on local versions of Google where gambling is legal. Strange decision, no doubt because they are under US governmental pressure. I saw William Hill on Google adwords the other day, but I just did a number of searches including generics like "casinos" and various others and there is not one adwords representation - not even for land casinos. Really tight now.

[CityGuard]

I was told this summer that the PCC campaigns go up immediately on Google without needing prior approval, and that the human reviewers who go through and revoke campaigns aren't staffed for the weekend -- meaning it was possible to run a PPC campaign on google without fitting into their restrictions if this was set up over the weekend and set to expire end of day Sunday. I didn't do any checking to see whether that was true, and if it was true at one point it may not be anymore.

Has anyone tried this or have knowledge or whether it works?

[Fortune Palace]

it was possible to run a PPC campaign on google without fitting into their restrictions if this was set up over the weekend and set to expire end of day Sunday

Looks like it's going to be an interesting weekend..!

[CityGuard]

Looks like it's going to be an interesting weekend..!

How did the experiment go? Were you able to get a PPC campaign going over the weekend without getting in trouble on Monday morning?

[Fortune Palace]

How did the experiment go? Were you able to get a PPC campaign going over the weekend without getting in trouble on Monday morning?

Ha! Didn't try, to be honest. I rely on Google too much now for traffic to get on the wrong side of them. I know they say that the two areas are unconnected but I'm not going to test that just yet! Discretion is the better part of webmastering...

[ChrisB]

Google do allow gambling advertising when it suits them. Try "national lottery" and you'll always get a sponsored ad for Camelot's official site. State monopolies, it seems, are above Google censorship.

[szury]

It's better this way beleive me

[alexpratt]

Somehow I got an ad up there and its been there since Aug 07 - It even has $$ symbols in the title which breaks rules as well. I had about 3 others chucked out but they left my main one plus a smaller one....I up the spend and keywords little by little each month but am nervous they will stop it.

Unfortunately I can't tell you how I did it except that it is possible

[penny-slot-machines]

If you type in "cricket" into google, gambling.com comes up as a sponsored link, which is basically an affiliate site

I guess gambling.com would argue that they are now a uk sports portal rather than an affiliate site.

However, the site still has a search engine for affiliate casinos and affiliate banners which would appear to be it's main revenue earner. It's a gambling affiliate site in my eyes still.

[tripnbilly]

Well, actually they pretty much told me to take one! My account was suspended indefinitely after speaking with a help representative. That's happened to me before at casinos but not with advertising. My account seemed active and I had a few campaigns running but no hits. Tweaked it here and there mainly doing placement ads and steering clear of keywords and being cautious in the wording of the ads. I have a catalog on my site and was advertising it and directing the url to that page in 2 of the ads hoping that people may look around a bit. Got in touch with Elaine at the help desk who sounded like a robot with her responses. She informed me that I had been issued violation warnings and my account is now suspended. I had received 2 notices but none since I changed the ads after my first post here regarding Google. Well, nothing that I could say would sway her into allowing me to post any ads whatsoever....ever! Even if I start a new site advertising puppies for sale, any account with my name on it will be immediately suspended and fees not returned of course. They act like I was promoting Hitler's Nazi Youth program or something. Guess I screwed the pooch on that one...next stop Yahoo! Anybody else have any ideas?

Tripnbilly
www.tripnbilly.com

[e-gamblingcity.com]

Its a little funny because Google have a lot of gambling publishers that have years promoting online casinos and dont have any problems, but if you are a little client, you cant promote any gamling site due the US gambling enforcement law, Google play the "blind" when some client are "fat" or "big" fishes

That's really funny and "really business"

[TaLu]

In spanish, when you search for "ruleta" (roulette) appear 3 links to casino sites but if you bid for that keyword you can get banned on adwords.

http://www.google.es/search?q=ruleta

[gamblingtraffic]

Google has extended a ban on online gambling providers' use of AdWords to include even services that are free to consumers. Google takes these steps in order to show the world who nice they are and how good they take care of their clients, but I do not think these kind of decisions should be made by any search engine.