"USAToday" latest
to jump on the Internet betting wagon
Everyone seems to
advertise online betting these days, so why is the government
trying to put the brakes on it?
Imagine
my surprise when I found out that USATODAY.com is running online
sportsbook ads on their website. According to a statement posted
on their website, "USATODAY.com and Covers.com have joined
forces to create the most comprehensive odds and game matchups
site on the Web."
And I am just busting a gut. Yes, I was
kinda surprised. And then again, I wasn't.
We have published in a few articles that
ESPN.com is also running advertisements for online sports
betting websites, and that ESPN.com is owned by Disney. Thus, to
find out that a major news portal was running advertisements for
online sportsbooks is not a big deal. But at least ESPN was
running the ads on their non-USA facing portals.
What really shocks me is that
USATODAY.com has advertisements on their USA website, and that
those ads are for Sportsbook.com - an online betting site
allowing U.S. residents to bet on various sporting events. Of
course, those ads could come from Covers.com, but the main point
is that they show on the USA Today website.
Surprised - yes, shocked - yes, happy -
hell yeah! It was about time. The advertisers and the whole
industry have been on the ropes and taking heavy punches for
quite a while. Recent events, such as Google pulling out all
gambling-related advertisements from AdWords this month, the
UIGEA late last year, and I vaguely remember a case where a
sports news portal had to run "sports betting is illegal" banner
for one year, because they advertised online sportsbooks. Not to
mention the PayPal online gambling policy, the Neteller case,
etc. All these made the Internet gambling advertisers very
uncomfortable.
The only publishers with some guts were
the folks at CasinoCity who actually started a legal battle to
be allowed to run gambling advertisements on their websites.
When will the government take a hint?
You go USATODAY!
Andy Boyd
OGPaper.com
Published on 06/28/2007
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