Blackjack players need to keep track (count) of the number of face cards, aces and 10s played from the deck, as against cards of a lower value, in order to judge their chances of winning the game, and bet accordingly. Card counting, per se, is not illegal in Nevada, but using any kind of device to do so is illegal and carries severe punishment.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board has warned casinos, through a circular dated 5^th February, regarding the Blackjack Card Counter, which is an application for iPhones and the iPod Touch that is available on the iTunes Application Store for a mere US $1.99. Installing this application makes it very easy for gamblers to count cards, and thus cheat the casinos.

The application can be set to quickly switch to the “Stealth Mode” where it looks as though the phone has been switched off because the screen is shut off, but the card counter is still functional, and can be used by pressing keys on the screen.

Under Nevada law, using a device to count cards is an offence punishable with imprisonment between one to six years or a fine of up to $10,000 for the first offence.

Gambling regulators in California first found this device being used by customers in an Indian Casino and informed the concerned authorities.

This application was developed by Australian, Travis Yates (webtopia.com.au), who says its demand has gone up several times after the National Gaming Control Board issued the warning.

Another similar application is available in the App Stores. It is called “Card Counter” and costs $2.99.

This comes as a sudden change after they had issued a ban on paid search advertising for gambling sites about 16 months ago. The ban will however continue in Northern Ireland and outside U.K.

Previously, online gaming sites including Bingo and Betting shops were not allowed to advertise on AdWords, but that has changed now, and it is very likely that these sites will make a dash to get themselves registered with Google in an attempt to cash in on this new avenue now available to them. They will however have to go through all the correct licensing procedures before they can advertise on Google.

This is a very lucrative move for Google, with millions of pounds expected to come their way through this channel.

It is very likely that the policy change has been effected keeping the current financial crisis in mind. However, Google insists that they have been reviewing their policy for almost a year, and have also consulted with the Gambling commission on this issue, and the timing is just a coincidence. Google’s industry head James Cashmore says, “this is not a decision that’s been made quickly; its been something that’s been under discussion for months.”

Google has also decided to classify gambling ads under the non-family safe category, and hence they will be automatically blocked for users that have turned on the safe search option.

This change of policy could be bad news for Google competitors Yahoo! and Microsoft, who have picked up most of the ad spend that Google turned away in the past. Advertisers may now move away from these search engines and return to the more popular Google.

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.

The old system was far from perfect, as explained in the previous article about gambling ads on Google. Google have tried to plug this loophole in their system now, by banning all advertisements related to gambling altogether. This means that even genuinely free sites can no longer advertise for any gambling related keywords. This ban even extends to bingo, play-for-fun and lottery (except official state lottery) sites.

Two weeks into the newly imposed ban, the systems seem to be just as flawed and full of loopholes as before!

A search for obvious terms like “online casino” or “poker” does not yield any sponsored results. However, searches for “play poker” or “casino” yield more sponsored link results than a user would possibly click. And in fact, now they don’t even pretend to be free sites.

When asked about this glaring flaw in the system, a Google AdWords Account Manager said “Some ads show while they are in the queue for approval and have not yet been reviewed by our AdWords Specialists. Our AdWords Specialists review the ads showing on such search terms and disapprove where necessary. They work to removed all ads which violate our policy and suspend advertisers who repeatedly violate our policies from the AdWords programme.”

Revised AdWords gambling policy:

Google AdWords does not permit the advertisement of online gambling websites. Related content is also prohibited from ad text and keywords. This includes, but is not limited to, the promotion of:

• online casinos and gambling activities
• sports books
• lotteries
• bingo
• poker
• sites that provide tips, odds and handicapping
• software facilitating online casinos and gambling
• affiliates with the primary purpose of driving traffic to online gambling sites
• ebooks that promote gambling-related content
• sites where the primary purpose is ‘play for fun’ gambling
• online gambling tutoring
• sites where the primary purpose is gambling or casino games of skill.

The no-gambling policy costs Google a lot of money in terms of unrealised ad revenue, in addition to wasted editorial time repeatedly trying to track down and stop offenders. The policy makes sense in countries like the USA where online gambling is illegal, but in the UK and the rest of the world where gambling is not outlawed, surely stockholder pressure will sooner or later dictate wisdom other than their current holier than thou attitude towards gambling?