by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Feb 28, 2012 | Updated on Feb 28, 2012Just when you thought the US Government was done sticking their nose in the world of online poker, they strike again. This time though, it seems like they made a very uneducated seizure because they took over the domain name Bodog.com. Bodog.com has not been in operation since early last summer. In the wake of Black Friday, Bodog pulled out of the US market and let a subsidiary site, Bovada.lv take over in December. Everyone is a bit confused as to why the US government would seize a site that is not even operational anymore, but I suppose as long as no players are affected it really does not matter.Calvin Ayre, who is one of the main people behind the Bodog brand thought that this seizure was kind of pointless because it really did not do anything for anyone. He said, “Not sure what to say. BodogBrand.com is a brand-licensing organisation based outside the US. The brand left the market last year and the domain in question has been dormant globally for longer than that. We are only currently doing brand licensing deals outside the US so this domain had no place in any of our current plans.”Bodog.com left the US market in July and announced that their license with Morris Mohawk Gaming Group was simply going to expire at the end of 2011. While people were upset about Bodog’s departure, they shocked everyone when they announced the opening of Bovada.lv, which is basically Bodog under a different name and is mainly for US players. Bovada.lv is still able to operate in the US because their domain name is registered outside of the United States. The only logical explanation for the seizure of Bodog.com by the US government is that they are trying to intimidate the few remaining online poker sites who still operate under a .com in the US.
