The class action suit, brought by Californian citizens Mario Cisneros and Michael Voight, alleges that: "Despite the illegal nature of unlicensed internet gambling in California, and the United States in general, each of the defendants actively and knowingly advertise and facilitate illegal internet gambling by advertising illegal internet gambling businesses."
The suit accuses Google, Yahoo!, Overture, Ask Jeeves, Terra Lycos, CNET Networks and others of accepting payment for producing ads and links for illegal gambling web sites, based on search terms such as "illegal gambling", "internet gambling" and "California gambling".
In addition, says the suit: "each of the defendants either expressly uses, or has access to, geo-tracking software which permits defendants to be able to target illegal gambling advertisements to particular locations such as California."
The suit seeks an injunction against the ads, restitution and accounting for all illegal gambling proceeds received.