Nice Month for a Squat

Since its enactment last month, the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act has been a thorn in the side of online gambling website operators. One by one, the registrants of clever and attractive domain names are being shelled by corporations that hopped on the Internet branding wagon too late. The latest defendant in the Net betting biz is the operator of Aladdin Gaming online casino.

Aladdin Gaming LLC, the owner of the Aladdin casino and resort, is suing Giordano Casinos, a company based in the Bahamas, because it feels that Girordano's website, www.aladdingaming.com, is cashing in on the Aladdin brand.

Aladdin Gaming is a portal to www.worldbet.net, an Antigua based online casino licensed by Starnet and operated by Giordano. The portal displays an image of a magic lamp, similar to that used by the hotel-casino. The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday, requests an order to take the portal away from Giordano. If Aladdin Gaming LLC wins, it will attain possession of the www.aladdingaming.com domain. The casino/resort company, which operates its official website at www.aladdincasino.com, has also asked a federal judge to order Network Solutions to suspend the use of the domain pending the outcome of the case.

The Aladdin lawsuit is the second of its kind recently filed against online casino operators. A few weeks ago, Mirage Resorts, Mandalay Resort Group and the Stardust hotel-casino jointly sued Los Angeles-based Stardust Co. for its use of the domains miragecasino.net, stardustgaming.com, stardustcompany.com, dunescasino.net, goldennuggetcasino.com, themontecarlocasino.net and thecircuscircus.com.

Earlier this week, the National Football League filed a cybersquatting suit against the owner of three domains that feature sports wagering information and banner ads for online gaming sites--NFLtoday.com, NFLtoday.net and NFLtoday.org.

Although precedents haven't been set in the way of rulings, a litigious trend has clearly been established. As more gaming corporations warm up to the Web, further Net betting sites could find themselves in hot water.