The famous Bodog gaming brand has rebranded itself to www.Bovada.lv for all USA operations. The new name and website changes nothing from your point of view. You can still log in with your same account, participate in the same promotions and play poker just like you always have at Bodog. The only difference is the name and website address.
Interestingly, Bovada.lv is open only to players from the United States. Residents of other countries will be automatically sent to Bodog. The reason for this odd setup has something to do with Bodog trying to acquire licenses to operate legally in European countries. As a part of getting these licenses, the main Bodog brand is distancing itself from the USA market without actually abandoning the USA market.
The Morris Mohawk Gaming Group (MMGG) still owns both brands. From your point of view, everything will remain the same. If you live in the US and had an account with Bodog, your account has already been moved to the new brand. Everything has been kept intact and you can still log in with your same name/password. From now on, you’ll have to visit www.Bovada.lv to log in and play the games.
It’s kind of a funny name, but MMGG has always had strong marketing skills. I can remember when I first heard about Bodog and wondered what in the heck kind of name it was. But over the years, their strong brand marketing has associated “Bodog” and “poker” in my mind. Bovada sounds like a luxury watch brand in my mind, but I’m sure they’ll make the name stick just like they did with Bodog.
Word on the streets (forums) is that the new name is a combination of the words “Bodog” and “Nevada.” I can see why people think that – especially after visiting the new Bovada.lv landing page. It’s got a picture of the Las Vegas skyline. It’s actually a pretty slick looking website. So far, so good.
The domain extension of .lv stands for Latvia, but we suspect Bodog – er Bovada – was going for “Las Vegas” when they chose this extension. Dot-com domain names are no longer safe for US-facing gambling and poker sites thanks to the Fed’s ability to seize .coms. Fortunately, other domain name extensions are safe. So our guess is that Bodog wanted something other than .com and they figured they might as well use .lv since it might just help promote that Las Vegas image they are going after.
