Hi all,
yes its true (possibly) that vegas won’t seek to own the serps (though they do have the money to accomplish this task save a perhaps a few really good SEOers and those willing to go after the very obscure phrases) but what I think many fail to realize is the advertising factor in the mix.
you won’t be able to turn on a tv show, drive down a highway (billboards) or read a magazine without having the vegas online casino branding pounded into your heads at all times.
we’ve had this discussion before but I stand by my logic that when major players such as Harrahs constantly bombard US players with ads like “we’re US regulated, have payout ratios regulated and proven by US third-party respected institutions who are also gov regulated to be providing accurate info, have guaranteed payments on cash-outs .. again by US regulation … (and probably more on this angle but for now that’s enough to prove my point) … why would you ever consider playing somewhere else?”
and they’ll finish these ads by pounding into your heads their .com address and that means that there will be little reason to even go so far as to search the SEs for addresses. YOu’ll know Harrah’s .com address as well as you know google. how many people need to do a search on an SE for google.com?
admittedly there ARE searches done on SEs for google.com but I doubt all that many of them are people trying to find their address. More likely its people wanting more information on the SE for whatever reason. And I won’t argue that there will be a % of those who will search for Harrahs that are seeking their address that will actually find other sites than Harrahs and from there ….. yes they will likely click a link from (your site?) to get to Harrah’s and thus you’ve just made a signup.
But i cannot help think that is not going to be a number that is going to make many of us rich. Harrahs.com (or whatever they end up using) will be as well known to people as is Mcdonalds when you’re talking wanting a burger. Kids will know that .com address long before they’re ever old enough to gamble.
Personally I think 99% of us will definitely need to find another niche if it ever goes legal and regulated in the states.
Some argue that the number of players that regulation/legalization will increase to … will make up for the obvious losses but I disagree. I think that if/when vegas goes online the way it will work will be they … and they alone will be where US players can gamble. Vegas will likely bombard the net with different names of their casinos and perhaps even different versions of software but in the end it will still all end up in their pockets.
what was id Bobby D said in the movie “casino”?
in the end we win, it always comes back to us
I can’t see it being different in this case.
Just because it becomes legal to gamble online .. doesn’t mean it will be legal to gamble anywhere online. Quite likely just the opposite. There will likely be out of country taxes on those seeking to play outside the states .. which will probably be steep penalities since the gov will be looking for the player to make up for what the US gov can’t tax against the off-shore casino … in any winnings which players seek to bring into the states. This implemented to keep US money to be played and lost .. in the states.
Add the fact that no gov entity is going to be in any hurry to help those cheated that choose to play out of country … to guaranteed payback ratios / guaranteed to get paid on cashouts when playing at Vegas … + they could continue to make it illegal to play outside the states .. and you’re not going to see a huge stampede of US players seeking to spend their money off-shore.
which leaves you back to advertising Vegas casinos … and remember US citizens will know their .com addresses as well as they know google.com … if not likely better .. and it doesn’t paint a profitable picture to me.
And the days of getting rev share will be long-gone.
Sorry to sound so pessimistic. hope I’m wrong. But that’s how I’d do it if I were Vegas.