This has been an on again, off again issue for the big portal sites for years.
I remember years ago when Yahoo banned casino advertising for awhile. Then they brought it back. Then they banned it again.
Like you said, they WANT our money …
But it’s just not worth the legal risks to go up against the U.S. government. The Feds are making noise about cracking down on online gambling again, and these are huge companies that don’t need the hassle or bad PR that goes along with being targeted for a government investigation.
Also, the oline advertising business has picked up dramatically recently. That’s why Yahoo’s stock jumped over 16% yesterday when they released their earnings report. Back when they were hurting for money, online gambling, RX and porn were keeping them going. Now that the mainstream ad revenue is booming they are not so desperate so they can afford to turn their backs on the advertisers that could bring them legal problems — even if it does mean losing millions of dollars worth of revenue.