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Bing is becoming one of the fastest growing search engines on the planet so when Bookmaker.com had its domain seized last month and was forced to switch to a new extension (one not overseen by the US Government), the biggest fear was loss of SEO and players stumbling upon the seizure notice when conducting searches.
As of June 21, typing in the search “Bookmaker.com” into Bing.com no longer yields that dreaded seizure notice.
Bookmaker.com, now Bmaker.ag, found itself caught up in a US sting operation. The US Attorney’s Office out of Baltimore set up its own payment processing company and set out to begin processing for online gambling companies in hopes of seizing all their funds.
It worked in the case of BetED.com, a recreational online sportsbook that was forced to shut its doors.
Bookmaker and nine of its 100 plus related websites only had their domains seized. Under $100,000 of Bookmaker’s monies (otherwise known as ‘chump change’) was froze by US authorities.
Web surfers, however, were scared off by the seizure notice.
Bookmaker CEO Mickey Richardson considered changing the name of the company altogether.
“It’s bad,” he told Gambling911.com. “People type in ‘Bookmaker.com’ and end up seeing that seizure notice.”
What’s really bad is that Bookmaker for years has saved dozens of troubled online gambling websites from extinction and a countless number of gamblers from being stiffed. Worse still, the company is not exactly known for its powerful online payment processing abilities.
Richardson told Gambling911.com his company had opted to stop all ACH payment processing just days after entering a deal with the Baltimore operation.
Many operators we have spoken to were furious that the US Attorney’s office had decided to go after a company that for years preached industry self-regulation while lending money to competitors in times of need to ensure players funds were safe.
“We feared this might happen after PokerStars and Full Tilt had their domains taken,” Richardson said. “If it ever happened to us I told my guys just make sure our customers get paid quickly.”
It did happen to Bookmaker and the company hasn’t missed a beat paying customers since losing their domain one month ago.
As for Google, the seizure notice has also disappeared from search rankings when surfers attempt to type in the term “Bookmaker.com”. The same has occurred for an affiliated brand True Poker when one types in the term “True Poker”. Unfortunately, typing in “TruePoker.com” leads to the top search for the DoylesRoom.com seizure notice. DoylesRoom is a sister site of True Poker that also has adopted the .ag domain name. And, like with Bookmaker, it is business as usual at DoylesRoom and True Poker.
“It’s going to take a little work but SEO specialists will win out and the DoylesRoom.com Justice Department seal will no longer rank at the top of search in good time,” notes Payton O’Brien, the venerable Senior Editor of the Gambling911.com website.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
