Poker.com.au sells for $100,000

MELBOURNE, Australia - The domain name Poker.com.au has been sold for $100,000, despite the fact online gambling is current illegal in Australia. The domain was bought by online gambling giant 888.com, who are floated on the London Stock Exchange and based in Gibraltar.

The laws mean that online poker cannot be advertised in Australia and that gambling companies cannot set up operations in Australia but there is a grey area about whether Australians can play on sites operating overseas. Buying the domain poker.com.au will allow 888 to get great SEO positions for their site in Australian search engines without actively advertising their poker product.

888 use former Australian spin bowler and cricketing legend Shane Warne as their ambassador in Australia. Two years ago it looked like Australia would open up their gambling market to operators from across the world but politicians decided that it would have a negative effect on the population; Australia has one of the largest levels of problem gambling in the world, mainly because of the prevalence of slot machines - know as pokies - and sports betting in the bars of most towns.

To assess whether $100,000 was a good price for the domain (note: $100,000 in Australian dollars is currently almost exactly equal to $100,000 US dollars), the domain name poker.ca was sold in 2010 for $400,000 but Canada has a bigger population and a clearer regime on online gambling. If the Australian online gambling market does open up then 888.com is likely to have got a bargain and if it does not they will still probably get their money back in less than 18 months as the CPA rate for a new poker player is usually around the $300 mark.