After originally announcing that they would depart the American market earlier this year, the online gaming outlet Bodog has instead opened up a new operation that exclusively services their customers in the United States.
American players who now log into the Bodog.com or Bodog.eu URLs are being transferred to the new site “Bovada.lv,” which looks to be a twin of the other Bodog sites. For those who go to Bodog.com, the transfer is immediate; there is a statement on the Bodog.eu (the functioning site for Bodog) that says, “Access to this site is not available from your current location…If you previously held an account at this website, your account and funds are still accessible at the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group’s new website, Bovada.lv.” Within seconds, the player finds themselves at the new site, which proclaims, “Welcome to Bovada. Same Operator. New Name and Look.”
For many, the reasons for the changeover can be puzzling but, through an analysis of the past year’s legal and political activities, they become clear.
After the indictments of “Black Friday” were revealed back in April, many players on sites that still accepted American action have been waiting for the proverbial other “shoe” to drop – in the form of further indictments – on the multitude of sites still taking American play. With this in mind, Bodog took the preemptive move to take their site off of a “dotcom” and to the “doteu” in May; this would prevent the American law enforcement agencies (and presumably other nations’ agents) from having the ability to seize their “dotcom” domain name and the assets tied to it.
Bodog made the announcement in July that they would “pull out” of the U. S. online gaming market, apparently acquiescing to the U. S. Department of Justice’s push to end American access to online poker and gaming. With the current political push to legalize and regulate online poker over the past six months, however, Bodog seems to have changed their stance.
Also in July, Governor Brian Sandoval of Nevada signed a bill that gave the Nevada Gaming Commission the power to set up regulations for internet poker. Over the months that followed, the NGC has painstakingly put together plans for a regulated industry and, as of early this month, five companies have submitted their applications for licenses in such a regulated online poker industry.
Furthermore, the federal push to legalize and regulate online poker has gathered steam. Two hearings in California representative Mary Bono-Mack’s subcommittee in the House of Representatives, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, have been seemingly in favor of a federal solution to the online gaming question, with Texas representative Joe Barton’s online poker bill garnering the most attention. Although there have been hearings on the subject, the push has yet to result in any actual voting record on the issue.
Looking at the name of the new, American-only outlet, it is easy to see the tie to these actions over the past six months. “Bovada” is a play on the Bodog name that incorporates Nevada, while the “lv” tag, normally reserved for the nation of Latvia, can also be viewed as standing for “Las Vegas.”
The Morris Mohawk Gaming Group could also be looking at other reasons for the change. Although taking their American players out might be tough on their international operations, they could also be looking to protect themselves against any action that the American government may take against them. The MMGG owns both the international Bodog operation and the Bovada.lv site.
Bovada.lv still offers many of the same gaming outlets that the normal Bodog site does (sports and horse betting, casino games and poker). It also looks that there will be a $100,000 Guaranteed Tournament on the site as well as the opportunity to “Party With Bovada.”
At this point, the effect on Bodog has been minimal and the new Bovada site has yet to register. According to PokerScout.com, the peak number of cash game players yesterday (when the new Bovada site was activated) was 1980, slightly down from 2024 on Tuesday and 2142 on Monday. Bodog is currently ranked as the fourteenth largest poker site in the industry, while Bovada.lv has yet to register any statistics and enter the rankings.
Whether this proves to be a method of operation that other companies follow will be determined over time. In the end, what will decide the success or failure of this move is, of course, the players and their actions. If you would like to learn more about the new brand, make sure to check out our Bovada Poker Review.
