Bodog Europe's Online Gaming Outlook

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The Bodog brand has been licensed to different entities in different parts of the world. The rights to the United States facing brand are with the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group. Bodog Europe has the rights to the United Kingdom, Europe and Canada. Haydock Entertainment is the licensee in Asia. Keith McDonnell, managing director of Bodog Europe, spelt out the vision for his domain in an interview given to Rebecca Liggero.

McDonnell said that key area of his focus is the United Kingdom where there is intense competition. The competitors fall into two categories. One is those online gaming operators that are based in brick and mortar organizations, like Ladbrokes and William Hill. The other is the purely online gaming operators like Bet 365 and Paddy Power.

In Europe the challenge is slightly different. It comes more from the fragmented nature of the European online gambling market. Different countries have different regulatory requirements and these requirements are currently in a state of flux. Therefore Bodog Europe has to be on its toes. There are certain markets that are ideally suited to the Bodog Europe offering and the focus in these markets will be of consolidation. In other markets where Bodog Europe can meet the regulatory requirements they will seek to exploit opportunities for securing a foothold. McDonnell said that one of the key strengths of the Bodog Europe team was the ability to respond quickly to changing market scenarios.

Currently the entire European market is being serviced through the Bodog domain in the United Kingdom. In the future as Bodog increases its share in the European market it plans to introduce new languages and have separate domains for them under the Bodog Europe umbrella. The Bodog brand is already using geo-IP location technology. Players from anywhere in the world login to the main Bodog brand domain and are diverted to the appropriate licensee based on their computer IP address. Once Bodog Europe starts sub domains then it will use the same technology to direct players from different countries to their appropriate domains.

McDonnell also stressed the importance of the global Bodog brand for all the licensees. He said that the Bodog brand embodied certain values and standards and the consistency of the Bodog brand worldwide had to be upheld. He pointed out that this would be advantageous to all the licensees. If anyone licensee undertook any activity that promoted the global brand then the other licensees would benefit. Thus if all the licensees worked together to uphold the global brand then they could exploit significant synergies.

Bodog Europe had acquired the rights to the Canadian market earlier this year. By the end of the year the Canadian domain will be fully operational. The Canadian online gambling customer is a very literate and demanding one and working this market will be rewarding experience for Bodog Europe.

McDonnell summarized the Bodog Europe vision in a simple statement. He said, "Make no mistake: everything - absolutely everything - follows from a well-serviced and delighted customer. This is our fundamental, driving ethic and any of our competitors that don’t believe this had better step back because we’re about to eat their lunch."

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