NiHao
August 9th, 2004, 07:25 AM
If you thought being an online marketerwas without risk:
Top Web sites Sued Over Gambling Ads
Class action claims sites promote illegal Internet gambling sites, which also avoid California taxes.
David Legard, IDG News Service
Friday, August 06, 2004
A handful of leading sites, including Yahoo and Google, have been served with a class action lawsuit for accepting advertisements for illegal Internet gambling, say the law firms that filed the suit.
The lawsuit alleges the companies are accepting money to promote illegal Internet gambling sites on their search engines through paid or sponsored entries.
The lawsuit earlier this week, filed in California Superior Court, names as defendants Yahoo, Google, Overture, Ask Jeeves, Looksmart, CNet, Altavista, Terra Lycos, Jupitermedia, FindWhat.com, Kanoodle.com, Business.com, and Sex.com.
Few Responses
A Yahoo spokesperson says the company will not comment on pending litigation, but adds, "Yahoo, nor Overture, nor Altavista, nor any other Yahoo network [property] accepts paid listings for online gambling."
Lycos, Ask Jeeves, and Grant Media, which owns Sex.com, also decline to comment. Scott Reinke, associate corporate counsel at FindWhat.com, says his company had not yet received any notice of a class action suit, and had no comment. Calls placed to the other defendants weren't immediately returned.
Internet gambling companies are prepared to pay highly to get sales leads from these search engines, the lawsuit alleges.
"Under the search term 'Internet gambling,' the highest price per lead was an astounding $12.97 per click through ... The next four highest price click throughs (also gambling sites) were all at or above $12 per click through," the lawsuit notes.
The lawsuit states: "The defendants conspired with the Internet gambling Web sites to create and provide Internet advertisements to areas such as California in which Internet gambling is illegal with the knowledge and intention of persuading and directing California residents to visit these illegal gambling Web sites so as to illegally gamble in California."
In fact, <A href="http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,11226
Top Web sites Sued Over Gambling Ads
Class action claims sites promote illegal Internet gambling sites, which also avoid California taxes.
David Legard, IDG News Service
Friday, August 06, 2004
A handful of leading sites, including Yahoo and Google, have been served with a class action lawsuit for accepting advertisements for illegal Internet gambling, say the law firms that filed the suit.
The lawsuit alleges the companies are accepting money to promote illegal Internet gambling sites on their search engines through paid or sponsored entries.
The lawsuit earlier this week, filed in California Superior Court, names as defendants Yahoo, Google, Overture, Ask Jeeves, Looksmart, CNet, Altavista, Terra Lycos, Jupitermedia, FindWhat.com, Kanoodle.com, Business.com, and Sex.com.
Few Responses
A Yahoo spokesperson says the company will not comment on pending litigation, but adds, "Yahoo, nor Overture, nor Altavista, nor any other Yahoo network [property] accepts paid listings for online gambling."
Lycos, Ask Jeeves, and Grant Media, which owns Sex.com, also decline to comment. Scott Reinke, associate corporate counsel at FindWhat.com, says his company had not yet received any notice of a class action suit, and had no comment. Calls placed to the other defendants weren't immediately returned.
Internet gambling companies are prepared to pay highly to get sales leads from these search engines, the lawsuit alleges.
"Under the search term 'Internet gambling,' the highest price per lead was an astounding $12.97 per click through ... The next four highest price click throughs (also gambling sites) were all at or above $12 per click through," the lawsuit notes.
The lawsuit states: "The defendants conspired with the Internet gambling Web sites to create and provide Internet advertisements to areas such as California in which Internet gambling is illegal with the knowledge and intention of persuading and directing California residents to visit these illegal gambling Web sites so as to illegally gamble in California."
In fact, <A href="http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,11226