Bodog Will Suffer Massive Damage from Lost Google RankingsOn Tuesday, one of the largest online gambling brands, Bodog, lost its domain name (www.bodog.com), the result of a default judgment obtained by 1st Technology LLC of Las Vegas, Nevada. That company claims Bodog failed to answer allegations that downloaded software used by its customers to gamble online infringed upon 1st Technology's patents. (Ayre is pictured top with one of his Bodog Fight fighters, Nick "The Goat" Thompson. The BodogFight.com website was not affected by the lawsuit.)
Additionally, Bodog is being order to pay $48.6 million in damages to 1st Technology.
But the real damage comes from lost Google search rankings. Bodog has grown substantially over the years mostly from its highly visible search rankings on Google for some of the most sought after key words in online gambling. Terms like "Online Sports Betting" and "Online Poker" where Bodog routinely ranked within the top 5, will potentially be lost if the dead link remains for any period of time. While the company itself is in a favorable financial position and existing customers need not worry about Bodog's solvency, growth could potentially be severely hindered due to lost search engine placements.
Bodog's billionaire founder, Calvin Ayre, issued a statement Tuesday afternoon.
"The problems result from a dispute over the ownership of the Bodog.com domain name," he said. "We are fighting this dispute and are confident that we will win."
A source close to Gambling911.com suggests that Ayre and his associates believed the domain had been "hijacked". Ayre seemed dumbfounded when mentioning that a US entity had taken over the domain name.
In fact, Gambling911.com was with Calvin Ayre this past weekend and there was never any mention of a lawsuit.
The Party is Over....At least for the next few days. None of these revelers knew on Saturday while attending a lavish party for Bodog Fight in Vancouver the horrors to come.
"The court must make sure that Bodog was served properly before it could arrive at a decision," Gambling911.com legal expert, Tyrone Black points out. "It doesn't matter that they (Bodog) are a foreign company."
By Tuesday afternoon, Bodog had quickly come up with a plan to ensure current customers could access the website. Using the new domain name www.newbodog.com customers could enter their accounts and place bets just like with the Bodog.com website.
While this is great for existing clients, Bodog's busiest signup period is over the course of these next three weeks with the start of college football and the NFL. Bodog currently has few means of gaining new customers outside of sites like Gambling911.com, which while a great advertising vehicle cannot compare to the likes of a Google.com.
The new "owners" of the Bodog.com domain name are registered out of Bellevue, Washington. Washington State last year enacted legislation that would make placing a bet online a Class C Felony. It is the only state to do so.
Both "Bodog" and "Bodog.com" ranked among the top 10 on Google Trends Tuesday. "Jamie Gold", the Bodog sponsored player who won last year's World Series of Poker, also managed an appearance on Google Trends late Tuesday night.
Bodog was hit hard earlier this year when its long time payment processor left the industry following high profile arrests of co-founders in another payment solutions firm, Neteller.
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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com
Originally published August 28, 2007 11:50 pm ET
