Gambling.com sold… at a substantial discount

News on 28 Apr 2011

When the UK-based Media Corporation group bought the domain Gambling.com back in 2005, the consideration paid was a whopping $20 million.
That was before the UIGEA….this week an unidentified UK buyer snapped up the perfect gambling domain for a mere $2.5 million.
Nevertheless, Media Corp’s chief executive, Justin Drummond, pronounced himself “very pleased” with the sale, which was brokered through the domain marketplace Sedo.
“The sale of Gambling.com brings a significant boost to the group’s already substantial cash reserves,” said Drummond. “We have recently seen a number of exciting acquisition opportunities in the online gaming and online advertising space. The successful sale of Gambling.com has given the group more than adequate financial resources to pursue these acquisition opportunities aggressively.”
It wasn’t just the UIGEA that plagued Gambling.com’s fortunes shortly after it was acquired; two years after the purchase, Google imposed an inexplicable penalty which was only lifted in 2009, further driving down gross margin from the domain by some 60 percent or more.
The sale price falls well short of the reportedly $5.5 million paid by Bodog Brand for the purchase of Slots.com last year , but is better than the $1 million paid by PokerCompany.com for the Poker.org domain, also last year.
The identity of the new owner of Gambling.com remains shrouded in mystery, piqued by a comment from Sedo which indicated that the UK-based company will be “…well placed to capitalise on the benefits of such a memorable keyword domain considering the health of the online gambling market in the UK.”

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