In breaking news from the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, Poker News Daily has learned that Bodog.com will once again become the central domain name for the online poker room’s operations in the United States beginning today. The Kahnawake-based company regained control of the domain name in April.
On April 21st, Bodog settled a patent infringement lawsuit with Las Vegas-based 1st Technology, LLC and in the process regained control of the domain name Bodog.com. Previously, despite its team of pros including Evelyn Ng, David Williams, Jean-Robert Bellande, and Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo donning gear with “Bodog” on it, the site made its home on the domain name BodogLife.com. Now, players will be able to revisit the USA-friendly online poker room’s original domain starting on Wednesday.
Morris Mohawk Gaming Group CEO Alwyn Morris commented in a press release distributed by Bodog, “Gaining ownership of the Bodog.com domain was a moment of immense pride for me, but that moment has been topped by the return of the domain as the home of Bodog in the U.S. As the exclusive licensee of the Bodog brand for online gaming in the United States, we are thrilled to be a part of the return of one of the industry’s most prestigious and recognizable domains.” Visiting Bodog.com from anywhere in the world will enable a player to access the website of their local jurisdiction’s licensee. Morris Mohawk owns the rights to market the Bodog brand to customers throughout North America.
Bodog’s Twitter feed gleefully noted, “Big News Time! Bodog’s U.S. facing business has officially moved back to Bodog.com! We’re back, baby!” In March, Bodog inked an agreement with Haydock Sports Limited for the company to become its exclusive licensee in Asia. The group is led by former Victor Chandler executive Ian Dunning and operated 9play.com, which a press release noted “offers cutting-edge Sportsbook and Casino products in Chinese and in English to the Asian market.” In the United States, Bodog offers an online poker room, casino, and sports book and gained a considerable amount of notoriety due to the latter.
Each week, online poker players flock to Bodog for the site’s $100,000 Guaranteed, which comes with a $109 buy-in. Last week, just 630 players took to the felts, meaning a massive overlay of $37,000 was up for grabs. In the end, ryane8443 transformed his $10 into $23,600 for first place. Others who reached the final table included B Pars (second place for $13,600), djaameyers (third place for $9,100), Monkfish (fourth place for $7,000), skeptix (fifth place for $5,700), SpadesArmada (sixth place for $4,500), rathrbboatn (seventh place for $3,300), MSteitz12 (eighth place for $2,200), and Justin58 (ninth place for $1,300). The tournament was one of several not to reach capacity due to the ongoing World Series of Poker (WSOP), which has attracted the attention and bankroll of many of the industry’s foremost stars.
Bodog’s press release alluded to “a number of upcoming product and market announcements” during the remainder of 2009. The site received a considerable amount of buzz when Bonomo reached the final table of the $40,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event commemorating the 40th running of the WSOP. “ZeeJustin” finished fifth in the tournament and banked $413,000. Through 18 completed events at the 2009 WSOP, Ng, Williams, and Bellande have not recorded an in the money finish. The 2009 WSOP features a total of 57 bracelet events, culminating in the $10,000 buy-in Main Event. The feature tournament begins on July 3rd with the first of four starting days.
Bodog’s main offices are in Antigua. According to traffic ranking site PokerScout.com, Bodog is the 15th largest worldwide with a seven day running average of 760 real money ring game players. At its peak, which occurs during the prime time hours in the United States, over 1,400 players turn out. It is the fifth largest site that accepts U.S. players, trailing PokerStars (#1 worldwide), Full Tilt Poker (#2), the CEREUS Network (#7), and the Cake Poker Network (#10). Bodog’s traffic is comparable to that found on PKR, another independent site.
