Tag: 2011 predictions

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Time to double down on gambling domains? NJ passes legislation to license, regulate online gambling

Online Poker

It might be time to start looking over those gambling domains in your portfolio. 

Today, New Jersey approved online gambling legislation in what PokerNews calls, “…an historic day for online poker”.

New Jersey became the first state to pass legislation to license and regulate online poker Monday as the State Assembly voted 63-11 to approve a bill that would permit Internet wagering for New Jersey residents through hubs based at Atlantic City casinos. The State Senate had passed the bill 29-5 in November.

The legislation now will go to the desk of Gov. Chris Christie. He has 45 days to sign it into law, conditionally veto it (returning it to the legislature for changes) or veto it absolutely. If no action is taken during the 45 days, the bill automatically becomes law. Gov. Christie hasn’t taken a public stance on this bill but he has made it a priority to improve the revenue stream for Atlantic City, so it is not believed he would veto it.

If 2010 was any indication of the demand for gambling domains with Slots.com selling for $5.5 million, 2011 might be even better.

Gambling.com is up for sale, and positive news like this can only help its chances of selling for a record-breaking price of $20 million or more.

And it’s not just online Poker that was approved, as PokerNews points out, “The bill allows not only for poker to be offered online but also casino games and other forms of gambling.”

It looks as if one of Calvin Ayre’s 2011 predictions has already happened, but what it means for instituting online gambling at the federal level, won’t be known anytime soon.

Over at Calvin Ayre, a large “Victory” image is gracing the home page of the website.  Peter Amsel writes, “How ironic is it that New Jersey, the butt of so many jokes as a backwater bastion of big hair and unrefined tastes, especially when compared to their supposedly cutting edge neighbors in New York City, would prove to be the trendsetters here?”.  In the comments section, Calvin Ayre left a note saying, “…so far my predictions from last year and this are all unfolding as outlined”

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News Trademarks Video Games

Predictions on the next Facebook game title by Zynga

facebook games

With Zynga’s latest Facebook game Cityville topping the charts as the most popular Facebook game in 2010, I thought I’d offer up a few predictions on Zynga’s next blockbuster game title in 2011.  With Cityville, Farmville, and Frontierville numbering daily users in the millions, one can only guess what’s next for Zynga, like another game with “ville” in the title.

Back in late 2009, the game publisher went on a trademarking spree as pointed out by Games.com.  

Libe Goad, wrote: “Zynga, the social game publisher responsible for FarmVille, PetVille, Mafia Wars and more, went on a trademarking spree during the month of December, securing 21 names for potential new games. Of course, many of the names follow the end with ‘ville,’ including TreasureVille, FrontierVille, CrimeVille and AnimalVille.”

The complete list of trademarks (which can viewed easily over at Trademarkia) included: Pet Hospital, Poker Blitz, Safari World, Treasureville, Zoo city, zoo island, mafia world, hotelville, hotel world, hospital world, hospitalville, frontierville, frontier world, frontier, crimeville, crime world, casino world, casino blitz, bountyville, animal world and animalville.

While FrontierVille ended up as one of the top Facebook games, it wasn’t until June 23, 2010, that the company purchased the domain name Cityville.com for $38,225 at Moniker – in what would turn out to be the single biggest game ever on Facebook.

The game title Cityville, has spawned hundreds of domain registrations and websites with “cityville” in the name, ranging from CityvilleGuide.com to CityvilleGamecheats.net.

Zynga is known for using a myriad of companies and individuals for registering domain names, so predicting the next big game title might prove to be much harder.  For example, the company used IP Cybercrime LLC to register its Cityville.com domain. 

Predictions

What are your predictions for Zygna game titles in 2011? 

Will the game developer go with a “ville” name? A “world” name?

Is the company somehow behind the recent buys of Songville.com, Dreamville.com, or Slotsville.com on Sedo? Or maybe RestaurantWorld.com (which was purchased for nearly $8,000 in September)?

The company has plenty of names to choose from, but who owns those names is the question.  As I wrote about before, though Zynga might use a certain title for a game, it doesn’t always own the domain (even after launching the game).

Petville.com was launched in 2009 by Zynga, and the company acquired the domain name Petville.com from its previous owners for an undisclosed amount.  Visit Petville.com, and a message at the top of the site reads: ‘the content that was previously found at petville.com can now be found at ipawz.com’. 

Though Zynga owns Petville.com, Farmville.com and other ville domain names, it doesn’t own Fishville.com – which saw a spike in traffic according to Compete when the site launched in November 2009.   It appears Zynga and the owners of Fishville.com couldn’t come to an agreement, but Zynga is doing just fine – its Fishville game owns nearly all the top spots on Google, and the company does own the .net which it uses for the game’s home page.

Why Cityville is so hot

If you’re wondering what Zynga is doing to make its’ games so popular, Gamasutra the online gaming magazine, has an interesting write up titled: How Zynga’s CityVille Has Compelled 70 Million Players.

If you still haven’t checked out Cityville yet, here’s some gameplay footage provided by IGN.

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News

Calvin Ayre offers up 8 predictions for the gambling industry in 2011

crystal ball

If you’re a gambling domain investor and are curious about what Calvin Ayre has to say about the gambling industry, today he offered up 8 predictions for what’s to come in 2011. 

The buyer behind Slots.com and Slots.ca in 2010, Calvin Ayre didn’t hint at the sale price of Gambling.com, or specifically anything about domain names, but maybe that’s because he’s eyeing the category-killing domain for himself.  

He certainly has the cash to do so. 

In July, the self-made billionaire behind Bodog, purchased Slots.ca for $206,906.  Shortly before that, he purchased Slots.com for a deal totalling $5.85 million.

Calvin Ayre’s 2011 Predictions

Calvin Ayre opens his article on the less serious side with predictions like “Harry Reid will attempt (and fail) to slip a 1,900 page online bingo bill into a Senate roll call” and “At least one major poker company is killed by the cruel hand of the marketplace; two others commit ritual suicide after being bullied once too often on CalvinAyre.com.”

But if you scroll to the bottom of the story, Calvin Ayre offers up several serious predictions:

The launch by (at least) one US state of its own online gambling operation will set in motion a process that ultimately undermines any attempt at instituting online gambling at the federal level

2011 will see a continued increase in global stature for privately-held, London-based online gaming companies like Bet365 at the expense of publicly-traded companies and private companies based in less professional jurisdictions (where it’s much harder to build world-class teams).

Europe will continue its Balkanization trend, with each country having its own set of rules (also referred to as walled gardens in some reports).

Read Calvin Ayre’s full list of serious and not-so-serious gambling predictions for 2011.