GG, Bodog?
It hasn’t been a good few weeks for Bodog, as Gambling911 is reporting that the site is now having difficulty not only paying players but has taken to stiffing affiliates and other vendors as well:
Affiliates, while still receiving installment checks from Bodog (BodogLife.com) were complaining that “customer conversions were way down” and that the company was changing its payment terms without notice.
The troubled online gambling firm – once a powerhouse among Gambling911.com sponsors – was taken down from the site last week. It has been unable to process payments to and from gamblers since Forbes reported that bank accounts were seized from the US Government over the last six months.
According to the article on Forbes.com, $24 Million in funds has been seized by the US government over the past six months, funds the feds claim are in bank accounts used to fund operations and make payments to US-based customers of Bodog. Court documents obtained by Forbes cite that the seizures began in January of this year, and had continued through July.
“Processing is an issue industry-wide,” a source tells Gambling911.com. “But in the case of Bodog, nobody (the processors) wants to do business with them due to their high profile and the problems they are having with the US Government.”
This same source tells Gambling911.com that Bodog is discussing its options, including pulling out of the US market after football season in February of 2009, though it remained unclear if they
Bodog’s high profile stance since the UIGEA was passed (especially that of its flamboyant founder Calvin Ayers) may be coming back to bit it in its ass, as being firmly in the US government’s crosshairs doesn’t seem to be helping its business at the moment.
Only time will tell if the site can recover from the current setbacks but it’s hard to say the future looks good, as Bodog has continued to market itself largely to the US market, so having to abandon that market means losing a huge chunk of their player base without much in the way to fall back on, as far as worldwide presence.
