Home » OCW News » October 2009 » Google Finally Lifts Ban on UK Online Gambling Site

Google Finally Lifts Ban on UK Online Gambling Site

Date published: 19 October 2009

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Shareholders of leading UK internet media firm, Media Corporation Plc, must have celebrated on Friday last week, after leading internet search engine, Google, lifted a two-year penalty on two of its biggest websites, gambling.com and creditcardexpert.co.uk, sending its shares skyward.

Shares in Media Corp rose by 35.5 percent to 3.15 pence by 0704 GMT today (Monday, October 19). This notable increase means that stock in the company has tripled over during the past week. Shares in Media Corp more than doubled last week when it acquired online gambling firm, Purple Lounge.

When Google imposed a penalty on gambling.com and creditcardexpert.co.uk in October 2007, it effectively killed both site's all important Google rankings which knocked their revenues overnight as well as Media Corporation's share price. The reason for the ban is still reportedly unknown by Media Corp.

Up until the penalty was imposed, gambling.com was generating a gross margin of £1,065,000. Following the penalty, that gross margin was reduced by a massive 62 per cent. to £410,000. It is no secret that search engines are one of the main driving forces that encourage people to visit online gambling sites.

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Said Media Corporation CEO, Justin Drummond, 'The removal of the Google penalty is a hugely significant event for us and should sharply increase the revenues generated from the two websites in question. Gambling.com in particular is a major asset for Media Corp and the improvement in Google rankings combined with the imminent re-launch of gambling.com should see a marked improvement in revenues generated from these assets.'

Based in London, England Corporation plc is one of the UK's most successful internet media firms, with a focus on two particular sectors - online advertising and website publishing. It was founded in 2000 and not long after was listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).