SportingBet - Unethical Marketing Tactics?

JoeWager · Oct 24, 2003

SportingBet - Unethical Marketing Tactics?

Why would members of the SportingBet family of shops stoop so low as to use these unethical marketing ploys … thought they were considered by many to be a “stand up” group?

MySportsbook.com registered and uses www.theperscription.com as a redirect to their site, even after their previous problems with ICAAN over bad faith use of domain names related to CBS Sportline, Ladbrokes, etc.

PlayersOnly.com, another SportingBet site, currently holds registration to WWW.DONSBEST.COM which redirects to Players Only … this is another obvious bad faith effort to take advantage of traffic intended for Don Best. (the link on their web site to Don Best serves only to reinforce the fact that PlayersOnly knows these tactics are wrong, IMO).

Which other SportingBet shops are taking advantage of traffic intended for other sites? In the broadest sense, this is outright theft. At the very least, these are the sort of unethical business practices one associates with the old WorldGaming crooks. Has nothing changed with these folks?

Chadster · Oct 24, 2003

go file a law suit

you obviously have nothing better to do or can't spell these sites correctly

JoeWager · Oct 24, 2003

I almost posted in the original post here that I knew Jay Leno would be first to respond. What I didn't know was how well thought out his response would be

Seriously Jay, it's against all internationally accepted domain name policy to trade on others' names in bad faith. The question is really WHY this family of sites needs to trade in bad faith on names like The Prescription and Don Best ... they are, in fact, taking advantage of traffic intended for these other sites.

And, try as you might Jay, there is no good excuse for these business practices, not if one is presenting themselves as an honorable and upstanding company as SportingBet does.

Chadster · Oct 24, 2003

traffic maybe but business no

either way its not going to make or break either site

lander · Oct 24, 2003

As always - Good info Joe.

This term has been slanged as "WorldWagering" on theRX. It is in "honor" of WorldWager (a 2 month slow paying book) and their 700 (yes, 700) scrupulous domian names. Most of them were indeed ripoffs.

Whether it be 700 or 2 ripoff domains - it is still a sleazy unethical practice.

JoeWager · Oct 24, 2003

Sportingbet doesn’t seem to care for the same unethical domain name practices that its own companies are using.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>In May 2002, SportingBet PLC complained to the Hong Kong Office of the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre that the domain name SPORTINGBET.NET had been registered in bad faith by someone else and is “identical and confusingly similar” to its own name.

The Complainant (SportingBet PLC) argues that the Respondent is using the sportingbet.net domain name for commercial gain through re-direction to its www.go2gamble.com website. SportingBet contends that their registered trade name (SportingBet) is being used by Go2Gamble for no legitimate reason and in effect is doing so with bad faith for a commercial gain and purpose.

Source: http://www.go2gamble.com/sportingbet.html <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning!

Chadster · Oct 24, 2003

It's Friday afternoon and chivas 30 for me.

orca · Oct 24, 2003

I don't see it unethical, actually it's taking advantage of someone's stupidity. In love and business there's nothing writen down. IT'S A WAR OUT THERE and only the strongest and smartest can survive.

I'm going to ask you something Jay.

Would you buy Gambling.com domain if you find it available, or will wait until Gambling.com guys pay it again?

IMHO.

Orca