Gambling advertising via pay-per-click in Sweden

(PRESS RELEASE) -- Raketech, a leading online affiliate and content marketing company, would like to clarify certain aspects and its position in regard to media reports and conclusions related to Google’s decision to allow advertising from gaming companies in Sweden.

Google has informed Raketech that advertising for gambling will be allowed via so-called pay-per-click (PPC) advertising starting from 29 April, via licensed gaming companies only. However, it is unclear if this is as a first step or a permanent decision.

The decision to allow gambling operators to advertise on Google does not change Raketech’s business and is not expected to have a significant impact on its revenue. Raketech has not performed PPC advertising or paid media for gambling in Sweden before. PPC is not part of the company’s core business, and Raketech will not lose out on an existing revenue stream.

Raketech’s core business is built on organic search, creating high-quality products for people interested in sports and gambling that rank high without payment and are the search results in Google not marked as advertising. Raketech doesn’t target ranking on operator names, which is the area where operators can now start to advertise their brands. Raketech aims to rank on more general search and comparison keywords, where the company is leading in comparison services in Sweden and other markets.

Raketech today uses PPC advertising for some of its other products, such as the TV sports guide in Sweden TVmatchen.nu. The company purchases specific keywords for different sporting events and sports on tv keywords. There is no indication that this type of media buying will need to stop. Also, as Raketech has previously communicated, the company will launch a casino brand called Rapidi.com, which has a Swedish license and can potentially be advertised on Google.

Michael Holmberg, CEO of Raketech, said, "We believe it is positive that Google addresses the Swedish market as such. Our view is that hopefully, the decision to allow licensed operators to advertise will mean that unserious affiliate companies that previously advertised in an unregulated manner will now disappear. We also hope that in the future Google will allow PPC for affiliates, as it does in other regulated markets. By not being active in gaming PPC for Sweden in the past, this decision has no impact on Raketech, and I am convinced that our comparison products will play an important role in the Swedish gambling market into the future. The advantage of being a larger company like Raketech is having diversification across the business, meaning that a single decision like this has a limited impact on the overall business."