Yahoo! Changes Policy On Gambling Ads
May 14th, 2008
Yahoo! Search Marketing has sent an email to its advertisers in the U.K. advising them about a change in Yahoo! policy with regards to gambling ads.
The policy change has been made following a change in U.K. legislation regarding advertising of gambling services. It used to be illegal to issue ads that contained any invitations for gambling, or a mention of the money, bonuses or prizes that could be won by gambling. Following the recent changes in legislation, any or all of the above subjects can be incorporated into an ad.
Yahoo! has decided to update its own editorial policy and allow gambling to be promoted in ads displayed through their search marketing platform. The email sent by Yahoo! says:
- Previously, gambling ad copy could not contain invitations to play or any mention of money, bonuses and prizes. Under recent UK legislation on gambling advertising, UK gambling ads may now include any or all of these. This new legislation does not however extend to gambling advertising in Northern Ireland or Republic of Ireland, and so the relaxation on ad copy restrictions applies only for advertising which is run in mainland UK.
- Advertisers are responsible for blocking any regions within the market where their ad copy is not compliant with local gambling advertising legislation. Because the laws on gambling advertising are different in Ireland and Northern Ireland, as an advertiser with gambling ads on UKIE properties, you must use your geo-targeting settings to block non-compliant ad copy in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
- The existing rules on responsible advertising continue to apply, and gambling ads may be rejected on the grounds that they:
- Lead people to adopt styles of gambling that are unwise
- Are socially irresponsible and/or encourage excessive gambling
- Exploit the young, the immature or those who are mentally or socially vulnerable.
- The existing rules on location and licensing of gambling advertisers also continue to apply.
Google currently prohibits any form of promotion of gambling, even if it is for play-for-fun websites. By relaxing their rules on gambling ads Yahoo! could be winning some money that Google has left on the table.
Tags: ads, advertising, gambling, pay per click, ppc, search engine marketing, yahoo search marketing
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2 Responses to “Yahoo! Changes Policy On Gambling Ads”
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May 28th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
“Yahoo! allows gambling ads”
This is really very good news to here form you.
I’m very happy to see this stuff, thanks for informing.
xPublisher
June 18th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Good news!