So I was spending a little time reviewing adsense controls. It seems things are always changing in google's various control panels. One thing I noticed, I have the option to turn ads for gambling on or off. It is off by default. I never even knew this particular area existed. In Adsense, if you go to "Allow and block ads", then to "sensitive categories", you will see the option to turn on ads for gambling. How many of you have overriden google and turned the ads on? Default is off.
Good topic to raise, I thought for a long time they didn't allow gambling ads at all or for adsense to be run on gambling websites. I would guess that unless your site is focussed on under 18 year old e.g. child friendly content, then it is a good to turn the ads on, my reasoning for this is that gambling companies always pay a lot for ads and it should be no different for adsense. Penny for your thoughts folks?
I did a quick adwords check, the highest cpc I saw for the word gambling was about $15. These highest dollars have to do with addiction and treatment. Same with poker, about $13 is the highest cpc. However, the competition in these niches seems pretty low. I don't know if this is something new for google, or if they are relaxing the rules for publishers, but might be a lucrative new niche.
Yeah this change occurred September 2011. Like you've figured out already you need to opt-in to display gambling related ads. The ads are only displayed to visitors in locations where online gambling is legal.