I'm giving some thought to developing an online card game using Tarot cards that I conceived. I'm interested mostly because it would be related to my niche and would have an interesting crossover with the online card games niche as well. However, I'm wary of the "bad neighborhood" effect of linking to gambling sites. Overall, it seems to me that a link is a link, especially if it is niche-relevant. Obviously there will be opinions, but I'm seeking direct experiences. Has linking to gambling sites hurt you in Google? Having links on sites which also list gambling sites? Is the niche inherently SEO-poison, or is it merely the high percentage of low-quality sites? Is avoiding gambling sites and only linking to free games a way to mitigate this? Or does Google actually treat casino/poker niche the same as any other niche? What do those with experience in the matter think?
Steer Clear of the sites that google actually doesn't like. For this you will have to analyze the way google sees to the particular site whether it is gambling or pharmacy site. This can be done by analyzing the back links of the niche website and the contents of the website. Gather some statistical data of the site from where you are planning to get associated. Gambling sites complying to the federation rules are not going to give you "bad neighborhood" effect. On the other hand the illegal sites having tremendous traffic could give you and advantage of traffic and disadvantage of "bad neighborhood effect" I hope this answers your question