On Dec 20th it was reported that Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have agreed to pay over $30M just to settle allegations (without admitting) that they promoted and advertised online gambling since 1997.
It looks like the US government is insuring itself against WTO rulings and future compensations by intimidating companies that may or may not have ‘aided’ in promoting online gambling. It was very creative of them to target Microsoft, Google and Yahoo for their roles in providing platforms for advertising online gambling.
I wonder if the next step would be to for the US government to threaten to sue banks over charged commissions and interests rates for ‘gambling-related’ transactions since 1997. That would probably amount to hundreds of millions of USD.