Gambling players shift domains, under tight US scrutiny

Operated by Morris Mohawk Gaming Group and licensed by Kahnawake Gaming Commission, Bodog.com offers online gaming services, poker and sports betting. Its services have been relocated to a new domain, Bodog.eu with the existing domain becoming redundant, after the changeover, as recently announced.

According to management, reasons cited are the international expansion program initiated in December 2010. Although operating a European brand franchisee, Bodog.com states that this will not hurt its other brand licensee. CEO of Morris Mohawk, Alwyn Morris states, “Historical experience asks that we accept change and this global domain will appeal directly to newer markets the company enters.” He explains that although the European brand extension deal was signed last year, the change happened only now. Also certain parts of the Asian gambling market not looked after by Asian franchisee Bodog88.com, as well as newer Latin American markets, will be controlled by Bodog.eu.

Change of domain extension coincided with Black Friday and Blue Monday activities of the US Justice Department. Three biggest online poker and ten other online gambling domains were seized on those days, fuelling speculations that the domain change is done to evade US federal authorities. Also, websites hosted outside the US, but having .com, .net, or .org extensions are handled by American organizations and come under the US law enforcement’s purview. VeriSign operates .com and .net extensions whereas Afilias operates .org. The .com domains will be relinquished by many online casinos in the future. Even Doyles Room, popular in online casino and poker, will use .ag, since its Antigua relocation.