Imagine being a compulsive gambler in search of help who instead is bombarded with enticements to play.
That’s what happened recently when gamblers in the UK searched Google for the self-exclusion program Gamstop. Gamstop ranked fifth in the search results, preceded by four ads hawking online casinos and offering signup bonuses.
According to Casino.org, the sites were licensed and regulated in jurisdictions like Curacao and Cyprus, and so not obliged to offer the Gamstop service like casinos licensed in the UK.
The UK Telegraph reported that Google moved to remedy the glitch, and said the offending Google Adwords accounts had been suspended.
“We support responsible gambling advertising and it’s important to us that people see useful and relevant ads in this area,” a spokesperson said. “As such, we have strict policies around gambling ads, which we enforce rigorously.” The spokesperson did not explain why the system failed other than to say it uses “a combination of humans and algorithms to vet advertisers.”
Gamstop CEO Fiona Palmer told the Telegraph she was “very concerned” about any damage that might have been done. “When people search for information about self-excluding from online gambling, they should only see results relating to Gamstop and organizations providing support for problem gambling.
“Consequently, we are working with Google and other search engines to ensure that when people search for information about self-excluding from online gambling, our website is prominently displayed and these websites are not included within the search results.”
