Google Gambles

So search engine giant Google has today started accepting online gaming advertisers on its paid search application. What effect will this have on the gaming industry and how it is advertises across the Internet?

Since Google stopped the advertising of gambling companies in the summer of 2007, these companies have had to seek alternative advertising opportunities. The last year has seen an boom in other forms of online media, such as affiliate marketing and huge portals such as MSN and Yahoo. However with Google now open again to those gambling companies who are on the white list the shape of online marketing is set to shift again.

Budgets once reserved for affiliates and other less targeted online media will be moved to paid searches. Whilst natural search remains important, paid search is a much more efficient way of getting onto that all important page one of Google.

The cost of a click for words such as “casino” and “poker” will rocket once again and advertisers will be spending thousands of pounds a day to stay up there with the top operators and highest bidders. New budgets will have to be found for paid search which gives results instantly rather than over a year of painfully working your way up through Google in natural search.

So why did Google change their mind and do a U-turn on their US-centric stance on anti-gambling? Was it because Yahoo and MSN opened their doors to gambling paid search or was it because Google is not immune to the effects of the credit crunch and can see a guaranteed revenue stream for gaming operators who have been chomping at the bit for the last year to get back into Google again. Morality seems to take a back seat when there are hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.