SOURCE: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Three of the largest Internet companies have agreed to pay millions in fines and stop accepting online gambling ads, the U.S. Attorney's office announced today.

As part of the $31.5 million settlement, Microsoft, Google and Yahoo did not admit or deny federal prosecutors' claims that as much as a decade of the advertising aided and abetted a crime – online gambling.

U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said that the settlement ends years of investigative work and 12 to 17 months of negotiations with the companies, and brings the total of Internet gambling-related settlements reached with the St. Louis office to $70 million.

One of the specialties of Hanway's office is the fight against online gaming.

Her office recently reached civil and criminal settlements with BetOnSports, once one of the largest online gaming companies, that has shuttered the company.

The case against company employees, officers and others is still open, however.

Google agreed to pay $3 million cash.

Microsoft agreed to pay $4.5 million to the U.S., plus $7.5 million to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children and $9 million to fund a three-year public service ad campaign aimed at educating users that online gambling is illegal.

Yahoo agreed to pay $3 million and run their own $4.5 million, three-year ad campaign.