Online gambling, education and political news websites were the fastest-growing online categories in September 2011, according to online monitor and traffic measurement provider ComScore Inc.
Online gambling sites had 9.7 million visitors, a 13 percent increase from August, with sports betting getting a boost from the National Football League season, the monitor reported.
The world’s largest online poker operator, PokerStars ranked first in the category, followed by UPickEm.net and, inexplicably, Full Tilt Poker, bearing in mind its current off-line status and attendant troubles..
Education-information sites saw 82.7 million visitors, a 12 percent rise, led by Pearson Education, HotChalk and About.com.
Interest in political news sites rose 12 percent, to 35.4 million visitors, led by AOL Inc.’s HuffPost Politics, Politico.com and RealClearPolitics.com.
Google Inc. sites ranked as the number one property in September, with 184.6 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Inc. sites, with 177.1 million, and Microsoft Corp. sites, with 176.9 million.