Last month, we reported that Slots.com, the second most powerful generic gaming domain, had been bought at an online auction by a mystery buyer. Now we can reveal that the identity of the company responsible for the largest sum of money paid for a domain in 2010 – and one of the top 10 ever – was BodogBrand.com.
Our very own Calvin Ayre, the founder of the Bodog brand, happily parted with just under £4m, over a beer in central London. What you might call an expensive round, even by his standards.
“The internet really has changed how we do business,” said Calvin, who made the purchase from Snapnames.com online auction house, after a tip-off about the availability of the domain name from SEO specialist, Bob Rains, who helped him with the auction process. “I sat on a bar stool in London’s L’Atelier restaurant bidding millions for one of the biggest gaming domains in the world.”
So was he just bored or drunk or is there genuine value in purchasing this eight-digit name? “After Casino.com, we feel that Slots.com is the best gaming domain in the world,” he explained. “Bigger even than Poker.com because there are no strong brands in this space and slots are far more universal than poker – just look at the amount of space a casino devotes to slots over poker, added to which its simple to spell and easy to remember.”
Calvin feels that the new domain will help further boost the Bodog brand, which is officially the biggest online entertainment and gambling brand in the world, while targeting new business areas of high potential, such as the female gambling demographic.
“Slots.com will work for us on a number of levels, not least, in generating global traffic to our Bodog branded properties but also to form a number of other targeted websites including one that will be created by and for the female gambler.”
The twist is that BodogBrand.com will license Slots.com to selected online gaming operators in a fashion similar to the way the Bodog brand itself is currently licensed to gaming operators worldwide. In the interim period all Bodog branded properties (Bodog.com, bodog.co.uk, bodog.ca and bodog88.com) will use it to drive traffic to their casinos and poker offerings.
BodogBrand.com ambassador Rebecca Liggero, aka Bodog Becky, commented: “As with Bodog.com itself domains like this have value in their simplicity and being generic can be moulded to suit different players – the female market being an obvious target. Given BodogBrand’s experience and trust in online gaming coupled with the emergence of female gamblers, the potential here is limitless.” Read more.
