DotBeauty LLC (d⁄b⁄a DotCasino) is applying for the .CASINO gTLD in cooperation with Rock Gaming LLC and its affiliates (“Rock Gaming”). Rock Gaming LLC is a Midwest-based gaming partnership formed with an initial focus to develop first-class casinos in two of Ohioʹs largest cities, as well as to explore other potential gaming opportunities. Rock Gaming LLC has partnered with Caesars Entertainment, one of the worldʹs largest and most successful gaming companies, to develop and operate full-service casinos in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, and downtown Cleveland, Ohio, under the Horseshoe brand. The Ohio Casino Control Commission approved a gaming operator license for Caesars Entertainment Corporation and Rock Gaming LLC to operate Horseshoe Cleveland, which opened May 14, 2012.
Rock Gaming LLC is led by an experienced team of professionals including Dan Gilbert as Chairman, Matt Cullen as President and COO, and Nathan Forbes, Jeffrey Cohen, Steve Rosenthal, Brian Hermelin and Len Komoroski as principals.
Dan Gilbert – Chairman, Rock Gaming
In November 2009, Rock Gaming LLC Chairman Dan Gilbert and a team of principals successfully backed a state constitutional amendment bringing casino gaming to Ohio. Dan is also chairman and founder of Quicken Loans Inc., the nation’s largest online home lender, and majority owner of the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers franchise. Gilbert’s family of more than 40 companies employ 6,000 people nationally, with more than 2,000 in Ohio through the Cleveland Cavaliers, the AHL Lake Erie Monsters and Quicken Loans Arena, as well as the Quicken Loans Web Banking Center, Bizdom U Cleveland and Veritix. He is a founding partner in the private equity group Rockbridge Growth Equity LLC, which invests in growing businesses in the financial services, Internet technology, consumer-direct marketing, and the sports and entertainment industries. RBGE has significant investments in Northcentral University, a premier online educational institution; Protect America, a leading home security company; and Ready Financial, a provider of affordable banking products. Dan is also a founding partner of Detroit Venture Partners LLC, a Detroit-based Venture Capital firm focusing on seed and early-stage technology companies in the Detroit area. Dan and his partners also operate and invest in several consumer-based, technology-centered businesses, including: Fathead, Veritix, Xenith LLC, ePrize, StyleCaster and Quizzle.com.
Information on the other named principals can be obtained at http:⁄⁄www.rock-gaming.com⁄meet-rock-gaming.
Rock Gaming LLC firmly believes that establishment of a .CASINO top-level domain, imbued with the gaming experience and licensed nature of Rock Gaming LLC, will promote competition, consumer trust and consumer choice in the on-line gaming industry. Towards this end, Rock Gaming LLC has engaged DotCasino to apply for, obtain and operate the .CASINO gTLD under guidance and direction from the Rock Gaming. DotCasino will be the Registry Operator under Registry Agreement with ICANN, and Rock Gaming will be the single registrant of all .CASINO domain names. As the single registrant of all .CASINO domain names, Rock Gaming will be the single entity responsible for the operation of all .CASINO web sites per the terms and conditions of the registrant agreement, consistent with any applicable ICANN Consensus Policies, ICANN’s registry agreement with DotCasino and any and all applicable rules of law, particularly as such relate to jurisdictionally-based on-line gaming rules of law.
The mission⁄purpose of .CASINO is to provide on-line gaming and on-line gaming information and related services to Internet users in a manner which is consistent and compliant with any and all applicable rules of law, including jurisdictionally-specific rules of law related to on-line gaming. Under the stewardship of Rock Gaming, the .CASINO gTLD will aim to serve as a reliable source identifier of legal on-line gaming.
Towards fulfilling this mission⁄purpose, domain registrations in .CASINO will be limited to Rock Gaming LLC and its affiliates, and will be under terms, policies and guidelines as Rock Gaming so determines in its sole discretion to maintain consistency with the above-stated mission⁄purpose of the .CASINO gTLD, any applicable ICANN Consensus Policies, ICANN’s registry agreement and any and all applicable rules of law.
Rock Gaming firmly believes that the .CASINO gTLD, as used to promote the above-stated mission⁄purpose, will provide benefit to Internet users in general. In fulfilling .CASINO’s mission⁄purpose, Rock Gaming, upon allocation of .CASINO, intends to review applicable on-line gaming laws and explore ways of promoting adoption and use of .CASINO to fulfill the mission⁄purpose set forth above. One exemplary way Rock Gaming intends to explore is providing geographic (e.g., Cleveland.CASINO) and⁄or game-type terms (e.g., Blackjack.CASINO) not otherwise reserved from registration and⁄or use for use at the second-level to provide legally-compliant, geo-targeted on-line gaming and on-line gaming-related information and services in the area associated with the geographic term or the game-type associated with the game-type term. Consumer choice and confidence is thus promoted by providing an easily accessible and legal (where on-line gaming is legal) source for providing on-line gaming and on-line gaming related information and services.
As Rock Gaming LLC is a licensed gaming operator, and as Rock Gaming LLC pledges that websites within the .CASINO gTLD will be compliant with any and all applicable on-line gaming rules of law (as such are jurisdictionally applied), Rock Gaming believes that its stewardship of the .CASINO gTLD will extend trust into the DNS namespace for the .CASINO gTLD, and that such trust would be created in no small part by Rock Gaming being a licensed gaming operator. When a consumer visits a .CASINO domain, she can be assured that the registrant is Rock Gaming LLC or its affiliate, and that any on-line gaming available at such domain is compliant with any and all applicable rules of law relating to gaming by the consumer in the jurisdiction which governs that consumer’s use of on-line gaming.
DotCasino will be managed in a highly professional and commercially reasonable manner, consistent with any applicable ICANN Consensus Policies, ICANN’s registry agreement and any applicable rules of law, providing a level of comfort to registrants and Internet users alike as being a gTLD powered by an experienced back end provider (Minds + Machines) and backed by a management team already experienced in the operation of a gTLD (the DotCasino management team also manages the existing .JOBS TLD) and with the stewardship of the gaming-licensed entity Rock Gaming LLC.
DotCasino pledges to assist ICANN in reviewing the New gTLD Program as specified in section 9.3 of ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments as such relates to .CASINO and the materials set forth in this application, including consideration of the extent to which the .CASINO gTLD has promoted competition, consumer trust and consumer choice, as well as effectiveness of the application and evaluation process for .CASINO, and all safeguards put in place for .CASINO to mitigate issues involved in running .CASINO.
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