Gamblers' Suit To Continue

Published: Friday, June 10, 2005 Online-Casinos.com

GAMBLERS' SUIT TO CONTINUE

Search engines lose bid to dismiss lawsuit

A lawsuit filed some months back by U.S. online gamblers Mario Cisneros and Michael Voight was challenged this week by major search engines such as Google and Yahoo, who unsuccessfully sought to have it dismissed.

Bloombergs reports that the suits target advertisements that appear alongside Internet search results, an industry that is expected to grow by 34 percent to $5.16 billion in the United States this year, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The case highlights the regulatory issues faced by search engine companies when displaying certain types of advertising, such as online casinos or company trademarks.

The two plaintiff gamblers claimed that they used sponsored links at search engines or Web sites to find online casinos where they lost money.

During a hearing in San Francisco, Judge Richard Kramer ruled that the suit would not be dismissed as requested by Yahoo, Google and ten similar companies, and that the process of gathering evidence in the case may proceed.