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Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft settle with U.S. for promoting illegal gambling in the past

The United States government is cracking down on illegal online gambling sites. The sites that support online betting are harming legal and law abiding gambling operations according to government officials.

Catherine L. Hanaway, United States Attorney of the Eastern District of Missouri, announced today that Yahoo!, Microsoft Corporation and Google, Inc. have settled with the United States government for a total of $31.5 million USD. These settlements were to resolve claims that the three Internet giants received payments from online gambling business for advertising of online gambling from 1997 to 2007.

Microsoft settled for the largest portion of the $31.5 million dollars with its contribution being over $21 million USD. The Microsoft settlement will be split with $4.5 million USD going to the United States and $7.5 million USD going to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC). The settlement also has Microsoft providing $9 million USD for an online public service advertising campaign to help inform college age and younger people that online gambling is illegal under U.S. law.

Google’s portion of the settlement is $3 million USD for settling claims that it received payments from online gambling as well in the 1997 to June of 2007 period. A stipulation of Google’s settlement is that Google neither contests nor admits it received money from online gambling.

Yahoo! settled for $7.5 million USD, also not admitting or contesting the claims that it too profited from online gambling advertising from 1997 to December of 2007. Yahoo! paid $3 million USD directly to the U.S. government and agreed to provide $4.5 million USD in online advertising for a public service advertising campaign.

The advertising campaign is scheduled to begin in January 2008 and is intended to educate people that online or telephone sports book making and casino gambling could make them subject to arrest and prosecution. DailyTech reported on the U.S. ban of online gambling with a bill passed in the House and Senate in October of 2006.

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This is ridiculous
By FITCamaro on 12/20/2007 2:08:00 PM , Rating: 2
Why should software and internet companies be held at fault because people with addictive personalities let themselves get addicted to online gambling. Furthermore, there's plenty of people who don't get addicted to it and just wanted to enjoy it.

This is another instance where the minority screws it up for the majority. I love it how our government wastes its time with crap like this. Just like the whole baseball thing.

Let people make their own mistakes and live with them. They learn that way.




RE: This is ridiculous
By creathir on 12/20/2007 2:36:39 PM , Rating: 2
More importantly, why on earth are these gambling sites not allowed to advertise???

Freedom of speech anyone?

Maybe I misundstood the article.

Our government is WAY out of control.... it needs to be taken back to how the founding fathers intended it to be...

- Creathir


RE: This is ridiculous
By fredsnotdead on 12/20/2007 2:46:14 PM , Rating: 1
The gambling sites themselves are illegal, i.e. not run by any government entity...


RE: This is ridiculous
By creathir on 12/20/2007 3:13:45 PM , Rating: 5
They were not illegal until recently. Why should the search engines be responsible for something that was not illegal a year ago?
- Creathir


RE: This is ridiculous
By Oregonian2 on 12/20/2007 5:20:25 PM , Rating: 3
Maybe they were made illegal retroactively.


RE: This is ridiculous
By jak3676 on 12/20/2007 11:52:12 PM , Rating: 2
No, they've always been illegal in the US - it was just largely ignored until it became big business. Then it took the government a while to figure out how to begin shutting it down. The sites still operate legally outside the US borders. They sites themselves are not illegal, its just illegal for US persons to gamble there. Now the DOJ does not allow any of the major credit card companies to let US persons spend money there.


RE: This is ridiculous
By LogicallyGenius on 12/21/2007 7:05:49 AM , Rating: 2
They should sue the Govt for picking them only, why not sue Las Vegas , the evil den of bast*rds.


RE: This is ridiculous
By mindless1 on 12/21/2007 8:12:11 AM , Rating: 2
I think you're missing the point, that the Gov has a problem with it because of lack of regulation and taxation. LV has both of those.


RE: This is ridiculous
By littlebitstrouds on 12/20/2007 2:51:12 PM , Rating: 3
It's like me taking an add out on Google where you can click and order 10 grams of cocaine. It's illegal for me to sell it, and since my profits are Google's profits, it's illegal for them to advertise it as well.


RE: This is ridiculous
By creathir on 12/20/2007 3:23:20 PM , Rating: 2
The problem is, until recently, it was not illegal to even own one of these sites.

- Creathir


RE: This is ridiculous
By Oregonian2 on 12/20/2007 5:21:05 PM , Rating: 2
In all countries?


RE: This is ridiculous
By 1337n00blar on 12/20/2007 5:57:40 PM , Rating: 2
that's blatantly not true - online gambling has been illegal in the US for several years now


RE: This is ridiculous
By wookie1 on 12/21/2007 1:49:42 PM , Rating: 2
Actually, I don't think they made the gambling utself illegal, just accepting money from someone in the US. The person playing isn't breaking the law, the site or bank that takes the money is.


RE: This is ridiculous
By Chaser on 12/20/2007 2:55:00 PM , Rating: 2
Our founding fathers, most very religious, endorsed gambling?

Doesn't this tie in with the no overseas internet gambling laws that were put into place Not necessarily as a anti gambling stance but more in response to the outcry by legal domestic gambling and the lost revenues to them and the IRS?


RE: This is ridiculous
By JonnyDough on 12/21/2007 6:05:21 PM , Rating: 1
YES! They ran from persecution in their home nations, and as such realized the value of being able to choose their beliefs and exercise their right to practice what they believed. Their main goal in creating a new government was freedom of persecution for future generations. They envisioned being able to do as they pleased, without government telling them who to be. Can you imagine if the military came to your house and demanded that you recited the pledge of allegiance daily at 8am or be put to death?

The freedom to do as we please was never intended to extend to criminal acts, or cultist practices of burning babies for Zeus. It was intended to allow us to do as we pleased while respecting others. This idea extends into environmentalism, where we don't pollute the ocean currents that sweep past another country, or dump chemicals that seep into our neighbor's well water.

The idea of freedom is governed by respect. America has lost its respect with big business monopolies and capitalism. Selfishness is the constitution. The old one has been disregarded, bent, and burned to the will of those in power. Perhaps things have to get a lot worse before a revolution takes place in which the mass majority once again demands respect, and desires to show it to each other.

Just as the original U.S. Constitution was created in an attempt to ensure the freedom for future generations, so would a new constitution be drawn up in the name of freedom from oppression. Let's hope that when that day finally comes (once the "servicemen" a.k.a. military a.k.a. hitmen wake up and realize who they're really working for and what they're doing) this may happen. As with every revolution, it is a civil war, until the opposing force working for the government decides that killing Americans is not really what they intended to do when signing up.

Unfortunately, as the 1960's showed us...it can get ugly. Most of us Americans seem to be afraid of change, afraid to take on Uncle Sam. We're afraid of not paying taxes, because we end up in jail and stripped of our homes. Tell me, how is that different from any other form of government? Democracy = communism = socialism =?

We need a much better constitution. One that allows us to be free of governmental rule, and instead, uses the government to ensure fairness between its citizens. How is my national guard in Iraq protecting my family again? I'm confused. I'd rather him be ON GUARD here. Let other nations fight among themselves. Let their governments rise and fall.

I think its time that America takes a more mature stance and starts trying to LEAD the world through EXAMPLE, rather than force.


RE: This is ridiculous
By NT78stonewobble on 12/23/2007 10:15:59 AM , Rating: 2
Please remember that your government is representing the majority of voters, thus it is what "you" want...

Why mention taxes like that ? You don't wanna pay any tax is that it?

Well you won't like an army either or ... schools ... or hospitals?


RE: This is ridiculous
By Polynikes on 12/20/2007 3:15:45 PM , Rating: 2
From 1997 to whenever exactly online gambling was made illegal, it was legal to gamble online. Why, then, should it have been illegal to advertise? I don't understand. This sounds like charging someone with a crime that they committed before it was illegal, when it wasn't a crime.


RE: This is ridiculous
By littlebitstrouds on 12/20/2007 2:49:12 PM , Rating: 1
Why should a bar cut off a guy who's obviously to drunk? I mean it's his problem that he doesn't know when to stop drinking and kills himself. That bar should be worried about more important things, like making better drinks, installing karaoke machines, and hiring bigger and badder bouncers. Just let the guy die, it's his damn fault.

BTW, the government is vast, I highly doubt any money, or recourses were taken away from fixing other things... in fact here's more money to fix other things woot. Gambling is illegal, if you let people get away with one illegal thing what's stopping worse?


RE: This is ridiculous
By Chaser on 12/20/2007 3:00:59 PM , Rating: 2
Bars can cut off customers that "appear to be intoxicated" as to prevent them from harming themselves and to possibly prevent them from getting behind the wheel of a car and kill someone else also?


RE: This is ridiculous
By fic2 on 12/20/2007 2:54:26 PM , Rating: 5
It's not about gambling addicts. It's about Uncle Same wanting his share of the take.