The category killer gambling domain Slots.com is still up for sale after failing to meet its reserve price in the auction held at Moniker SnapNames. The auction ended today with 3 interested parties placing bids on the name and a highest bid of $4,500,000. By all reports, the owner of Slots.com had hope the sale would bring in a minimum of $6m, but will be disappointed that even with all the coverage in the gambling industry and a domains powerhouse managing the auction Slots.com didn’t reach the asking price.
There was a lot of interest around Slots.com when the auction was first announced at the GPWA forum, then cancelled, eventually ending up at SnapNames. At this point, the owner has not said if a second auction will be held or if negotations will take place with the highest bidder. But $4.5 million is certainly a price worth considering. At that price, if confirmed, the sale would top the 2010 sales chart at DN Journal, knocking off Photo.com recently sold by Moniker for $1,250,000. Had the name sold for $6m, it would have been a bigger sale than casino.com, which sold for $5.5m, placing Slots.com in the top 10 of reported domain sales of all-time.
While the high bid of $4.5 million suggests there is definite interest, gambling webmasters and domainers in particular have been skeptical at the owner’s target price.
And the lukewarm response to the Slots.com auction indicates the seller needs to be more flexible to tempt the right buyers.
Whatever the outcome of the Slots.com auction, the domain market certainly doesn’t need a rally to show its worth. Nearly 30 of 2010’s top domain sales have been for six-figure dollar amounts and at least 12 gambling domain sales have been reached five figures or more.
UPDATE: The Epik Blog reported last night that Slots.com eventually sold for $5.5 million possibly to one of the big online gambling casino providers.
