.vegas

Status:	Contract Signed
Registry Provider:	Afilias
Type:	Generic
More information:

.vegas is a proposed new GeoTLD to ICANN's new gTLD expansion program, the application was submitted by Dot Vegas Inc. with the support of the city of Las Vegas. The name was applied for as a GeoTLD, which includes obtaining the respective government support, but ICANN deemed that the term in question does not in fact refer to a geographic area as defined by its standards. The ruling was made by the Geographic Names Panel, and has no necessarily overt, negative repercussions for the application.

Background

There was initially contention between different companies that were seeking the approval of the city of Las Vegas in order to apply and run the .vegas registry; the endorsement of the city associated with the TLD is required by ICANN. Dot Vegas Inc. started preparing its proposal for the .vegas TLD in 2007. Its application with ICANN was evenutally supported by the Las Vegas City Council, the City of North Las Vegas, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the Nevada Development Authority, and the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. Greenspun Corp., operator of Vegas.com also sought approval for the .vegas gTLD. Brian Greenspun, Chairman & CEO of the company questioned the endorsement of the Las Vegas City Council to Dot Vegas Inc. According to him, his company was willing to offer the city a better revenue-sharing agreement. He said, the "The city could do better than that at $1 per registrant." Greenspun's application was supported by Clark County. The company offered a $1.50 revenue share to the county for every registered domain name or 10 percent of the yearly gross revenue. Commissioner Steve Sisolak believed that Clark County should also earn revenue from the TLD. He said that he offered a partnership agreement with the Las Vegas City government to share the revenue that will be generated from the TLD but the proposal was rejected by Mayor Oscar Goodman. This prompted him to encourage his fellow commissioners from Clark County to support Greenspun's application for the .vegas string.

The Las Vegas City Government and Dot Vegas Inc. signed a revenue-sharing agreement. Based on their agreement, the city will receive $0.75 for every .vegas domain name registered or 10 percent of the company's gross annual revenue per year if ICANN approves its application. James Trevino, CEO & President of Dot Vegas Inc. expects 300,000 to 500,000 domain names will be registered during the first year of operation of the .vegas TLD.

Application Details

The following is excerpted from the applicant's response to question #18:

"As expected the objective of the .Vegas TLD registry is to provide its registrars, customers, registrants, end users with the best possible technical security, stability, robustness and performance available in the industry. Our goal is to provide a technical infrastructure and related tools that will encourage innovation among registrars, registrants and end users in whatever industry they may be operating.

From the perspective of the Las Vegas community, as a City TLD, our goal is to enhance and promote Vegas throughout the world. Because of the world renowned reputation of Vegas as a hospitality, entertainment and gaming mecca, clearly it will be important for the .Vegas registry to do everything it can within legal and regulatory limits while protecting the Vegas brand and reputation from disreputable elements or activities. Additionally, in recent months, the Vegas community has witnessed a rapid expansion of technology related business in the community. Our goal is for those new technology enterprises to tie and identify themselves more closely to the Vegas community through their use of the .Vegas extension in their online presence.

Because Vegas is a worldwide brand and already has a very visible international identity, Dot Vegas has been instructed by the City of Las Vegas to promote and allow registration of .Vegas domains worldwide, without official or documented connections to the Las Vegas community. In many respects, the City of Las Vegas views the establishment of the .Vegas TLD as an additional tool to (a) increase awareness of the area worldwide, (b) expand tourism and the consumption of products and services offered by local enterprises, and (c) promote and attract the creation or relocation of technology enterprises to its expanding technology corridor.

As a result, registration policies will be consistent with those employed in .com, .net, .info and other generic top level domains. One notable difference will be the existence of registration policies and agreements that will allow Dot Vegas, as the .Vegas registry operator, to quickly respond to unlawful activities carried out by .Vegas registrants or others on .Vegas sites or using the .Vegas infrastructure to protect the reputation and interests of the City of Las Vegas and the local community. As a condition to registering a .Vegas domain name, registrants will be required to execute terms and conditions expressly allowing the .Vegas registry to intervene or disrupt the operability of the registrant’s .Vegas domain, even without a court order, where the Company has determined that illegal activity is being carried out using the registrant’s .Vegas domain or the .Vegas registry’s infrastructure which would harm or damage the reputation and interests of the City of Las Vegas, the Vegas brand, and⁄or the local community.

The Company has already reached out to the Chamber of Commerce, Nevada Development Authority, Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority, and several other leading enterprises and individuals in the local community for their support of our .Vegas initiative. Additional and continuing efforts are planned to reach out to the Vegas community at large, to expand awareness of our .Vegas initiative throughout the area, and to engage actively with the community. As part of our organizational structure, an advisory committee will be formed from local governmental, civic and business leadership to enhance and ensure ongoing communications with the community and to direct funds from .Vegas operations earmarked for community purposes."

Contract Signed

On 16 January 2014 Dot Vegas Inc. received a Registry Agreement signed by ICANN for .vegas after passing all the required processes needed to become a Registry Operator for the string.

Top-Level Domain