Previously it has not been permitted to advertise gambling related activity via Google Adwords as it was against their policy. Until now that is....
From tomorrow, Google will be allowing the use of Adwords Gambling Ads provided the advertiser has a valid licence. There is also a separate application and declaration form that advertisers are required to complete, and Google stipulates that a brand new account must be created solely for the gambling campaigns.
Google's gambling application page says: "At this time, Google AdWords only allows online gambling advertisements targeted to Great Britain (England, Scotland, or Wales) where the advertiser has a valid licence for the remote advertised gambling activities in the UK, Malta, Isle of Man, Alderney, Gibraltar, or Tasmania. If you are licensed outside these jurisdictions but within the European Economic Area (EEA), we will need to consider your application further."
Perhaps this has occurred as a direct result of the recent economy and the effects that this has had on search revenues, although it had been expected that Google would revise their policy at some stage.
Their Keyword Traffic Estimator Tool states that search terms such as "online gambling" could potentially generate 29 clicks per day at a cost of £70 per day, and "online poker" could generate 115 clicks per day costing £310 per day.
In such a competitive market, I suspect it may take several weeks for the market place to stabilise as more advertisers set up their new accounts and go through the approval process. Therefore CPCs and search volumes could fluctuate quite considerably for some time.
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