Internet companies Microsoft, Yahoo and Google settle online gambling claims

Source: Technology Digital

Date :12/20/2007 5:30:43 AM

Microsoft, Yahoo and Google and the U.S. Justice Department settle claims that the Internet companies promoted illegal gambling.

The settlements resolve claims that all the world’s three biggest internet companies were paid by online gambling businesses for advertising Internet gambling between 1997 and June 2007.

In addition to the cash settlement - $31.5 million - the companies will spend millions on advertising campaigns warning young people of the dangers of gambling, the department said in a release.

"These sums add to the over $40 million in forfeitures and back taxes this office has already recovered in recent years from operators of these remote-control illegal gambling enterprises," said U.S. Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway, in Missouri.

Settlements

Microsoft will pay $4.5 million to the federal government and $7.5 million to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

It will also provide a three-year, $9 million online, advertising campaign aimed at educating that online gambling enterprises are illegal under U.S. law.

Yahoo will pay $3 million to the federal government and agreed to provide $4.5 million worth of online advertising for a public service campaign.

The Google settlement is $3 million. The Google ads had appeared in sponsored links on its Google.com search engine and on partner sites in its ad network. It said it had discontinued the ads in 2004.

December 20, 2007