As of today, Google will start displaying online gaming ads on search pages in Great Britain. This service will only be available to companies based in the UK or the European Economic Area, who will have to fulfill a series of requirements.
Some of these requirements are:
- If the advertiser is based in the UK, they will have to be registered with the Gambling Commission and provide a valid operating license number.
- Advertisers based outside the UK (but within the EEA) must be licensed to advertise within their own country.
- Advertisers will also have to fill in a gambling ad application with details and a copy of their gaming license.
- Gaming ads will have to comply with standard codes of practice such as the Gambling Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising and the Gambling Commission License Conditions and Codes of Practice.
- Advertisers must display visible links to a responsible gaming entity (such as GamCare) on the first page that the customer sees after clicking on the ad.
Some pundits speculate this move was prompted by the credit crunch and slowing down of the economy. The UK Times Online featured Hannah Kimuiu from Greenlight, the advertising industry experts. Kimuiu explained,
“The bottom line really is it’s a lot of money. The gambling advertising industry is probably worth £100 million a year. A lot of advertisers have had to half their budgets in the past year. They’ve got to recover this money somewhere.”
Google gave a very different reason for opening to the online gaming market again: adjusting to local business practices. A Google spokesman declared:
“At the time, we thought banning these adverts worldwide was the responsible thing to do and would give us a chance to review our policies. But we like to localize our policies to make sure they’re relevant to cultural and legal practices in a particular country.”
Google will retain its ban on advertising for firearms, prostitution and “miracle cures.”
Experts estimate that Google controls about 70% of the online advertising market around the world, which makes this move potentially very profitable for them; Google allowing gaming adds is also one small step forward towards making online gaming legitimate. Gaming ads on Google will be tagged as “non-family-safe” so they can be blocked by parental control software and Google’s own “Safe Search” filters.