UK Parliament minds Google’s gambling ads

In response to Google’s October announcement to reintroduce online gambling advertisements on its searching engine for UK users the Church of England expressed its concern that what backed by the Members of the Parliament. Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP, brought the motion which said that during the current economy decline Google’s actions appear to be irresponsible and unwise. Thus the MPs along with the Church call on the searching engine giant to ‘review its policy in line with its own obligations on corporate social responsibility’.

The first company to benefit after Google relaxed its rules on gambling ads was Ladbrokes. According to some speculations Google’s revenue from gambling companies paying for sponsored listings range from £100 million to £300million.

A spokesman for the Church of England said: "As people are facing more financial uncertainty, the fantasy of instant wealth could become particularly attractive and the consequences of losses correspondingly serious" 

James Cashmore, industry leader at Google UK, said: "Following a thorough policy review last year, we believe that allowing search ads for gambling in Great Britain is consistent with local business practices. We have, however, taken steps to ensure only properly licensed gambling businesses can advertise on Google, and these ads will automatically be classified as 'Non-Family Safe', meaning they will not show on any search where a user has applied the Safe Search filter.