U.S. legalities and domain parking

[dagersh]

Hi, I'm new here, coming from the domaining side of things. I have a substantial portfolio of gambling-related domain names that I've accumulated but have yet to try any affiliate advertising on any of them.

My concern is what's legal in that respect: I'm in the U.S. -- if I put up a quick "banner farm" type of page on one of the domains that would simply aim my traffic toward other gambling sites, does that alone put me at risk for anything in regard to online gambling laws? Or is it only if I have my own affiliate gambling site that I need to be careful?

I'm in Washington state, I should also add -- I believe there are some more stringent laws here about it all, if I'm not mistaken.

Any clarification would be appreciated!

[Simmo!]

Washington is definately hardline. J.Todd (who is a member here) might be able to give you some good info on that as he is from there.

What I would add though is, even if you don't go down the affiliate route, you would be better off putting gambling related articles up on the domain than putting them on parking sites. This will add value when you sell them as it will have some "history" and hopefully be Google indexed. And don't be afraid to link to some high-profile sites in the sector too. That helps build trust.

Amazes me how many domainers park their domains for a few $$ revenue when a 3-5 year domain with history in it's niche is so much more valuable to a potential purchaser. I buy a fair number of domains, mainly via Sedo, but I'd never buy a parked domain unless it was an amazing high traffic name.

[dagersh]

Washington is definately hardline. J.Todd (who is a member here) might be able to give you some good info on that as he is from there.

What I would add though is, even if you don't go down the affiliate route, you would be better off putting gambling related articles up on the domain than putting them on parking sites. This will add value when you sell them as it will have some "history" and hopefully be Google indexed. And don't be afraid to link to some high-profile sites in the sector too. That helps build trust.

Amazes me how many domainers park their domains for a few $$ revenue when a 3-5 year domain with history in it's niche is so much more valuable to a potential purchaser. I buy a fair number of domains, mainly via Sedo, but I'd never buy a parked domain unless it was an amazing high traffic name.

Thanks very much for the suggestions. I was chatting with someone else very familiar with online gaming sites on another forum, and they also suggested putting up articles on my domains. Question is: where's the best place to get these articles from? Is it best to just try to gather information and write your own, or can they be purchased elsewhere? Is one way better than the other in terms of added value?

Thanks for your help!

[CityGuard]

FYI - I've added "and domain parking" to the thread title since the topic of this thread has expanded.

[Simmo!]

Thanks very much for the suggestions. I was chatting with someone else very familiar with online gaming sites on another forum, and they also suggested putting up articles on my domains. Question is: where's the best place to get these articles from? Is it best to just try to gather information and write your own, or can they be purchased elsewhere? Is one way better than the other in terms of added value?

Thanks for your help!

As long as it's unique to you it doesn't really matter how you get them. Probably best idea is look for some press releases relating to the industry (IE: the Kentucky ruling) and re-write it. That one should be of particular interest to you as it also relates to domain ownership. You could add opinion to that too. That type of thing. If you're a member of DNForum I wrote this up some time ago in the Platinum section if you dig around.