Its seems that things have come ‘full circle’ I remember the day when ads on gambling related keywords were allowed back in 2003/2004 and it was a little annoying seeing PPC ads at the top when you work very hard with SEO.
Then it was banned for a few years and now PPC is back again.
I’ve been in touch with google also and they have said that they will deal with each application in a ‘case by case’ fashion, although they will instantly dismiss applications which do not have a valid gaming operator license issued by the UK Gambling Commission.