U.S. feds fine Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!

ST. LOUIS, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo! Inc. agreed to pay $31.5 million to resolve claims they promoted illegal gambling, the U.S. Justice Department said.

The settlement resolves government claims the high-tech companies made profits from promoting online gambling on their Web sites between 1997 and 2007 "in violation of the Federal Wire Wager Act, federal wagering excise tax laws, and various states' statutes and municipal laws prohibiting gambling," the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of Missouri said.

Microsoft will pay $21 million, including a $7.5 million contribution to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and $9 million for an online, public-service campaign to inform the public online gambling is illegal.

Federal prosecutors accused Microsoft of receiving payments from online-gambling businesses for advertising their services, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Google is to pay $3 million and Yahoo! will pay $7.5 million for similar allegations.

Yahoo!'s fine includes $4.5 million for an online campaign similar to Microsoft's.

As part of the settlements, none of the three companies admitted any wrongdoing or contested their culpability.

All three companies said they had stopped accepting gambling advertising nearly four years ago.