Before midterm elections Americans hit gambling and political websites

(Photosani)

In October, traffic to online gambling sites doubled in the lead up to midterm elections in the USA.

Visits to political news sites also increased during the month, said comScore in its Media Metrix Top 50 US Web Properties for October report, as people in the United States tried to keep abreast of news about the approaching midterm election.

"Web activity was largely impacted by the midterm election in October which drove increased traffic to political news sites, while online gambling sites saw gains due to interest in the 2010 World Series of Poker," said Jeff Hackett, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix in a report released on November 22.

Google sites continued to take the top position on comScore's list with more than 180 million visitors during the month. Yahoo! sites took second place with 179.6 million visitors and Microsoft sites followed in third with 170.6 million visitors during the month.

For the first time, Facebook.com exceeded the 150 million visitor milestone, attracting 151.1 million visitors to its sites during October and gaining fourth place on the chart.

comScore's Top Properties (US) October 2010:

1. Google Sites
2. Yahoo! Sites
3. Microsoft Sites
4. FACEBOOK.COM
5. AOL, Inc.
6. Ask Network
7. Turner Digital
8. Glam Media
9. CBS Interactive
10. Viacom Digital
11. Amazon Sites
12. Wikimedia Foundation Sites
13. New York Times Digital
14. Fox Interactive Media
15. Apple Inc.