Google to Allow Gambling Adverts from Today

World?s most popular search engine has announced that from today, it will allow the advertisement from gambling companies on its pages in England, Wales and Scotland.

The companies must be based within the European Economic Area (EEA) and must be registered with the national regulator.

This is a reversal of the global ban in 2004 and will only apply in the UK. Gambling advertising in all the other countries will stay banned.

A Google spokesman said, ?Over the last few months we've been reviewing our gambling advertising policy in Great Britain to ensure it is as consistent as possible with local business practices..... Following a review, we have decided to amend our policy to allow text ads to appear against search queries related to gambling in Great Britain?

These text adverts by regulated companies will be treated as ?non family safe? and if the parental controls or safe search filters supplied by the Google are applied, these adverts will not appear in the results.

Gambling adverts are shown on British TV channels and some channels, after a certain time, host roulette, blackjack and poker games with viewers gambling via the telephone.