Uproar Over City Voting – Who Gets .Vegas ?

February 4, No Comments

Las Vegas City Council has voted to support Dot Vegas Inc. to become the registry of a proposed .vegas TLD. This surprisingly clashes with the current owner of vegas.com (The Greenspun Corporation – owner of the Las Vegas Sun).

On a deal voted 4-3, Dot Vegas Inc was supported on the basis that “the city would get 75 cents for each registered name, or 10 percent of the revenue the company generates, whichever is greater.”

The Las Vegas Sun reports that “Voting for the resolution were Mayor Oscar Goodman, Lois Tarkanian, Stavros Anthony and Ricki Barlow, who made the motion to approve. Voting against were Steve Ross, Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese and Steve Wolfson.”

“Greenspun told the council if it decided to endorse VEGAS.com’s proposal instead of Dot Vegas, he could offer the city $1 per registration. Plus, he said, VEGAS.com, which already has 30 million visitors coming to it’s Web site each year, is in a good position to market the .vegas TDL and make the city more revenue.”

Clark County Wants In On The Action

Its also been reported that Clark County officials have been questioning the city’s right to exclusively benefit from a .vegas domain. This is because the city limits end at Sahara Avenue and don’t include the Strip (which most people recognize as Las Vegas).

Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak sent a letter to Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman on Jan. 28 asking the city to postpone any action to allow talks between the city and county on “partnering”.

Sisolak says: “The Strip is in the county, not Las Vegas” “We need more time to think this out, work together.”

After the City Council’s vote, VEGAS.com told Commissioner Steve Sisolak the company would pay $1.50 per domain registration. Sisolak said he plans to have the commission discuss the proposal at its Feb. 16 meeting.