Bodog USA Changes Name to Bovada

[baldidiot]

Surprised there's been no word from bodog, but this has been circulating on a bunch of forums:

'Bodog.eu is Changing

Dear xxxxxxxx,

Bodog.eu is changing - New Name, New Look, Same Great Service

The Morris Mohawk Gaming Group's ("MMGG") brand licensing agreement with the Bodog Brand is expiring at the end of this year and as a result MMGG will no longer be offering its services using the bodog name or from the website, bodog.eu.

From today, December 14th, MMGG will continue to operate as it has for over 4 years, just under its new name, BOVADA, at www. bovada.lv

Your account and balance has automatically been transferred to the new website and you are able to log in to the site using your existing account details and password.

PLEASE NOTE: As part of the transition process, there will be a scheduled outage overnight to both the old and new websites. We expect Bovada.lv to be live by 11:00am ET on December 14th, 2011.

If you have any questions regarding your account or the new brand we ask that you contact the customer service team directly at 1-888-263-0000 or service @bovada.lv.

We hope you enjoy the new site!

Sincerely,

Bodog.eu'

There was a bit of paranoia from the tin foil hat brigade when it was posted on 2+2: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29...ovada-1139274/

But Becky confirmed in the thread: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29...index2.html#26

[Imperator]

The new domain sounds terrible. I wonder if players will remain there...

[thebookiesoffers]

The new domain sounds terrible. I wonder if players will remain there...

i agree, especially being .lv as well. Im certain people wouldnt' trust that domain so I definately wont be adding them to my site

[baldidiot]

From what I hear the new brand will only accept US players - did they go for .lv because it sounds a bit like las vegas? (it's the TLD for latvia, btw).

[Chips]

I received an email to my player account address and one from Betting Partners notifying me of the changes. No new poker or casino banners were up yet, just sports banners. So much for an easy day on the job eh?

[usaonlinecasino]

Got the news as well. I have the same filling as you do.

[casinoranking]

Great for them to give us 1 day notice to update all our sites. Getting really sick of the Bodog or should I say Bovada attitude that they are the only sportsbook in town.

So am I supposed to keep bodog up on all my north american sites just for Canada then? That makes a lot of sense...

[star]

Call me a pessimist, I am usually not, but the happenings at Bodog make me wonder unfortunately.

They basically give up their well-established brand in the US and intend to conquer the UK market, facing all those big gaming companies being well-known and trusted for decades. And now that .lv domain.

Does this all make sense?

Edit: The new website itself does not look bad in my opinion. To me it seems one needs to update Bodog tracking links only, since US visitors will be redirected to Bovada with the tracking retained.

Later

[GPWA Aaron]

Here's a quick story I just wrote about the change. I've contacted BodogBecky to find out if Bovada will be launching its own affiliate program, or whether it will be using the same program as Bodog, and how the change will affect affiliates whose existing players are being migrated to the new site.

Bodog moves U.S. players to Bovada
by Aaron Todd

American online gamblers can no longer gamble on Bodog, as of Wednesday morning.

Players accessing Bodog.eu from the United States find a note stating, "Access to this site is not available from your current location. The Morris Mohawk Gaming Group no longer offers its services under license from the Bodog Brand. You can find their services now available at www.bovada.lv."

There is a note at the bottom of the page which explains that users will automatically be redirected to bovada.lv, but as of 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the site did not actually redirect visitors to the new site.

Other than the domain name change (a combination of the words "Bodog" and "Nevada") and a new landing page (complete with a picture of the Las Vegas skyline), not much has changed for U.S. players. Players can sign into the new site with existing usernames and passwords, and existing balances have been transferred to the new site. Players can access the same games, and the sports betting menu looks identical to what is offered at Bodog.eu.

U.S. poker players who open up the Bodog Poker client are told that it is no longer supported and an update will be available soon. They can, however, download a new version of the client at bovada.lv and resume playing immediately. The software, published by Trident BPO Trading Limited, appears to be identical to Bodog Poker software.

[baldidiot]

Here's a quick story I just wrote about the change. I've contacted BodogBecky to find out if Bovada will be launching its own affiliate program, or whether it will be using the same program as Bodog, and how the change will affect affiliates whose existing players are being migrated to the new site.

AFAIK it's through betting partners.

[GPWA Aaron]

AFAIK it's through betting partners.

Yes, thanks for that. BodogBecky responded, saying she doesn't have anything to do with the new brand but that Betting Partners will be handling the affiliate program.

Full post on the subject here (http://www.gpwa.org/forum/betting-pa...lv-202435.html), but important to note that existing U.S. players will continue to be tagged under affiliate accounts.

[MJM]

Becky has nothing to do with the new brand? Who does have anything to do with it then?

This whole thing is just wierd, and ballsy (the push in the UK). I think the right people are steering the ship, but I hope they have someone like Becky that works PR and customer support like she currently does, as it tends to be a huge people to players in need.

[Tony]

I got the same email but I can't login in to the new bettingpartners site and they are not doing anything about it, they told me is my browser and I shuld try to use a different browser such as google chrome? OK the banners are going down and when they'll stop playing with sites and domains I may add them again.

[Anthony]

I was able to access my new account using Firefox 8.0.

[rknuppel]

So let me get this straight? If I link to Bodog on my site(s) and have mostly US traffic - I need to update my links now? The links will NOT WORK automatically? If this is the case it really really bugs me that I got less than 1 day notice to make this happen. WOW!

[baldidiot]

So let me get this straight? If I link to Bodog on my site(s) and have mostly US traffic - I need to update my links now? The links will NOT WORK automatically? If this is the case it really really bugs me that I got less than 1 day notice to make this happen. WOW!

I'm not really sure, there seems to be a lot of mixed messages. In the last email betting partners sent they said that you had to update your links to Bovada, but then a couple of sentences later they said:

Players within the US who click a Bodog banner will now be directed to Bovada via a message from Betting Partners with your tracking retained.

So we can just leave the bodog banners for now and players will be redirected?

Anyone from the US want to test it? I have a link to bodog on my page here: http://www.goodbonusguide.com/casino-bonuses.html - it's the "USA Players click here" banner. Can someone from the US click it and let us know what happens!

[star]

Yes, those in the US please let us know whether the redirection works for you.

Thanks.

[Anthony]

Yes, those in the US please let us know whether the redirection works for you.

Thanks.

The redirect is working for me.

[TheGooner]

There seems a lot of panic here ... but little info ... and I'm surprised betting partners or bodog have not been here to answer most of these questions - because they sent the answers out in an email 24 hours ago.

Here is what I know.

The MMG (Kahnawakee Indian group) had the license to use the bodog brand for three years and to accept US players - but that runs out at the end of December 2011 ....

The rebrand of the site from Bodog to Bovada (a play on the name Navada I guess) occurred as a sudden switch-over, but some things are in place to minimise impact on affiliates and players.

1) If a US player tries to go to Bodog - then they are re-routed to Bovada.lv
So nothing needs to change in the links immediately - they work for US players.

2) The Bovada affiliate program is betting partners - the same program as Bodog
Bovada appears as a client - the same way that Bodog.ca and bodog.co.uk appear. You can get banners, text links and such like now.

3) US players have been migrated across and now login to Bovada.lv the same way as the old Bodog.eu
So in theory there should be player continuity.

--------------------

What I also see :

Bovada.lv only accepts US players - so any talk of the .lv domain putting people off is probably inaccurate. I'd guess that 99% of US based players will see LV and assume Las Vegas rather than Latvia ... especially with the headline name of BOVADA


Bovada.lv is NOT geo-routing away like the other bodog properties. So if you do change your links to bovada make sure that you are only sending US traffic there. If you send other traffic they will get there - but cannot join up or play.

Stats at Betting Partners are in delay ... again.

------------------

Overall - the move was done overnight in stealth - but it seems that player activity was first and foremost in mind - and that appears to have been achieved with little impact on players.

However, the communications to affiliates, and back-end statistical details have been slack, and the people in charge of affiliate relations have not been obvious anywhere.

[topboss]

Thanks Gooner, You have clarified things nicely.

I, however can't even get into Betting Partners as they never sent me any login details like they promised to do and their lost password link doesn't work, so I emailed them to ask them to send it to me and have not received a response.
Not particularly impressed so far