London calling: Bodog gets UK gaming & ad licenses

Ambitious as always, Calvin Ayre’s Bodog brand has announced that it’s received a license to operate online gambling services in the UK, as well as to advertise those services.
It’s a good fit: Ayre’s a Canadian, but Bodog headquarters is in London. And Bodog’s been making aggressive marketing moves in the UK recently, with such as its recent Scottish football sponsorship.
The license to offer online gambling services is the brand’s fourth, internationally. The main Bodog.eu site (formerly Bodog.com) is licensed in the Canadian Kahnawake jurisdiction; Bodog Europe is licensed in Antigua; and Bodog 88 holds a license in the Philippines. (The UK license becomes effective in about three months.)
Calling itself the “first bookmaker to fall in line with new UK gambling proposals,” Bodog is also taking advantage of the headlines being grabbed by the proposed changes to the UK’s current gambling laws. (More on that story tomorrow.)
(And that’s smart marketing, by the way. Bodog affiliates should be leveraging this marketing push with blog entries and social media posts devoted to the topic.)
“Bodog UK, the newest addition to the Bodog Brand’s licencee portfolio, will operate bodog.co.uk exclusively for the UK market under its newly issued remote casino and sports-betting operating licence,” a Bodog news release announced, “and also has plans to strategically position itself on the high street, utilising its non-remote operating licence to launch an assault on the bricks and mortar business.”
Bodog UK’s new CEO, Patrik Selin, called the UK online gambling regulatory market “the world’s most robust and respected.” He notes that the brand plans to launch much more global efforts from its new base, but as EGR points out, he’s also not saying when Bodog expects its UK branch to be profitable.
For its part, Bodog seems cheerful to pay the UK’s 15 percent tax, and supports the nation’s plan to increase taxes to offshore gambling operators. The news release enthuses that the decision will “enhance [the UK market’s] reputation by creating a new and fair licencing structure that levels the playing field for operators whilst at the same time maintaining the UK’s consistent high standards in consumer protection is one that is wholeheartedly supported by Bodog UK.” (Aside to Bodog’s PR team: You gotta start breaking up those sentences!)
Other UK-facing online gambling brands aren’t quite as excited about those new tax and licensing proposals, though. We’ll go into more detail on that story tomorrow, here at the CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com Blog.