The History of Bovada.lv. The origins of Bovada go back to 1994, when Canadian entrepreneur Calvin Ayre founded Bodog.com. When the company expanded into the US, it changed its name to Bovada. The current domain was established in 2011, but Bovada actually has more than two decades of experience as a top sports betting website under its belt. Reno, Nevada The legendary Cal Neva hotel-casino that was once owned by Frank Sinatra is about to get a ground-up makeover. The resort, which straddles the California-Nevada state line, was a frequent haunting ground of talents like Sammy Davis, Jr and Dean Martin in the early 1960s.
In a surprise announcement on Tuesday, the leading US-facing offshore online poker site, Bovada, announced its poker platform had been acquired by a virtually unknown online gaming site, Ignition Casino.
Little is known about Ignition Casino, as there is scant information about the casino, or its parent company (listed as Lynton Limited on the Kahnawake Gaming Commission website) to be found on the internet.
Lynton Limited has three online gambling domains licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission:
- IgnitionCasino.eu
- CafeCasino.lv
- Slots.lv
Ignition seems to have launched in 2016, and in addition to online casino games, the company has been operating as a skin of the Bovada/Bodog online poker room during that time.
The surprise acquisition of Bovada by Ignition, and previous relationship between the two companies, has raised a number of questions, and sparked a 200+ post discussion on 2+2.
What’s really going on here?
Bovada’s license is in the name of Salmon River Technologies according to the Kahnawake Gaming Commission website. Like Ignition Casino’s parent company, Lynton Limited, there is very little public information available about Salmon River Technologies – not surprising for a US-facing online gaming site.
Of interest, Bovada.lv, Slots.lv, and CafeCasino.lv are the only three online gaming sites with a .lv domain (.lv is the internet country code for Latvia) registered with the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, suggesting there could be some type of deeper relationship between the two companies.
Also of interest, the Bodog Casino website and the Ignition Casino website are virtual clones of one another, right down to the layout, games, promotions, and bonuses offered. Once again, this points to the two companies being related in some way.
Bodog
Ignition
These similarities raise the specter that the move doesn’t stem from a sale of the software, but rather some type of asset transfer to a subsidiary or sister company, not dissimilar to the way Bodog spun off its US operation in 2011, creating Bovada.
What makes this so peculiar is it only involves Bovada’s online poker platform. The Bovada online casino, race book, and online sports book will continue to operate under the Bovada brand.
If as Bovada has stated, this is nothing more than a standard acquisition, it’s unclear how a brand new casino operating as a skin of Bodog/Bovada, would have the capital to purchase such a valuable asset.
If it’s merely an asset transfer, than it’s equally unclear why this rebranding is necessary, and why it only extends to Bovada’s online poker operation.
Here is the full announcement from Bovada:
Is Bovada Reliable
We have an important announcement to share with you: Bovada Poker has been acquired by Ignition Casino. The acquisition will require all poker players to transfer their account by September 30. Following this date, Bovada Poker will no longer be available, however, access to Bovada’s sportbook, casino and racebook products will remain.
Because Ignition Casino uses the same platform as Bovada Poker, everything you enjoy such as; anonymous tables, Zone poker, mobile poker and guaranteed tournaments, like the weekly $100K, will be there waiting for you. Additionally, until the transition is complete, both sites will operate simultaneously with shared player pools.
Bovada Wiki
We’ll do everything we can to make this transition as smooth as possible so please be sure to visit our Migration FAQ page. There you’ll find information on account transfers, how to score generous migration bonus, what to do with your Poker Points and any other question you may have.
Where Is Ignition Bovada Based
We’re fully confident in Ignition Casino’s ability to offer an equal level of service and security you’ve been used to at Bovada. Find out more by checking out their website today.