Google Bonanza: Search Giant to Open up for PPC Casino Adverts in Regulated US States
This week, the world’s biggest search engine confirmed their long-rumored intention to allow sponsored Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising by casino operators in the legalized gambling states of Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada.
However, Nevada-based online casinos will still only be able to advertise their sports betting and poker services as full online casinos are not yet legal in that state.
Regardless of the specifics, though, US operators will be happy to hear that they will finally be on a level playing field with larger foreign online casinos, who haven’t been subject to the ban.
PPC advertising allows casinos (or at least those with the budget) to instantly get straight to the top of any Google results page, provided they’re willing to pay for the keyword. The most common search terms, such as ‘online casinos,’ can demand very high prices per click.
First Quarter 2020
Marketing managers shouldn’t get too excited just yet, though, as there’s no concrete date for Google’s new plans to come into effect. However, experts predict that it won’t be too long —probably within Q1 of 2020.
Interested parties will still need to apply for a license before putting their ads out there, which could be a lengthy process.
Relax in Policy?
Alongside this news, Google also looks set to update its policy on US sports betting, with an entirely new set of regulations and policies coming into force sometime next year.
This could allow PPC sports betting content in upwards of seven states, including Indiana, Iowa, Montana, and Rhode Island, in addition to the four fully legal states that it is available in now. It is understood that the State Lotteries in each of those states may also be able to make use of the advertising platform.
The move comes after a year of relaxation around gambling laws by the search engine, allowing a few limited gambling apps onto its proprietary Android-based mobile app store Google Play. Except, of course, in China—but that’s another story entirely.
Attention Needed
However, things don’t always work out for online casinos using Google adverts. Back in October, major UK-based online venue Casumo was forced to remove an entire PPC campaign after one online researched complained to regulators that they had found a sponsored ad for the casino when searching for ‘how to unsubscribe from all gambling sites.’
‘We considered there was a strong possibility that vulnerable consumers seeking to prevent exposure to gambling ads and access to gambling websites, might have been served a gambling ad,’ said the United Kingdom Gambling Commission.
There was no fine in this instance, but US-based firms will need to be extremely careful with their plans when first starting out in the new (to them at least) field of PPC casino advertising next year.
396 articles
