Tech Giants Fined $31.5m For Gambling Ads, Find Needed Cash Under Couch Cushions

Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Google have all been playing it pretty loose with their respective advertisement networks, giving Web-based gambling houses the option to market their services more or less as they wish.

And now the three largest text-based ad agents on the Net are paying for it. According to the AP, all parties mentioned above agreed “to pay a combined $31.5 million to settle federal civil allegations” that they worked to perpetuate illegal gambling in years past.

Some say the collective settlement is naught but a drop in the proverbial bucket for the forces that command the great majority of the Web ad business. And such an opinion is quite valid. With a total market cap running well into the tens of billions, an eight-figure penance is hardly noteworthy, nevermind newsworthy.

To be perfectly honest, we’ve wrestled around with whether or not to mention the report here at Profy. After all, it’s no secret that the US government finds online gambling a scourge which must be stopped only because it’s not yet managed to tax such venues “appropriately”. (A hard thing to do considering most virtual casinos are headquartered outside the domain of the American government.) So why bother to point out a minor story involving little else than a federal grudge writ ridiculously small?

Well, we say why not. It’s not every day that this fine Web-centric publication is all but spoon-fed a tale about supposed big business indiscretions and the moronic use of taxpayer funds to nab said entities for things that really don’t need nabbing. It gives us the chance to harp on in unison with countless other blogospheric voices, questioning why some of the most powerful of public servants of this society go after worthless grievances and manage to glance past issues most relevant and most pressing of the moment. (Which, if nothing else, is cathartic and good for the body and the soul and all the rest of that health crap everyone yammers on about these days.)

Not much more to say on the subject. Bigs Y!, M, and G all got little slaps on their respective wrists, and now they get on with business - some more than others. If a Bloomberg News report is at all accurate, the pending purchase of DoubleClick by Google is slated to be secured prior to year’s end. The FTC is expected to OK the deal whilst Santa spreads cheer and colorful non-biodegradable plastics to all.

A nice (probable) high note for Mountain View close out 2007 with, wouldn’t you say? Something to completely shade over whatever the heck it is we talk about for the last four-hundred words.

Minor Update: Yeah, it looks like the Google-DoubleClick deal is a go.