Florida bought MyFlorida.com back in 2000, then started using it for their various gov't services. In 2003, Florida started putting MyFlorida.com on all their license plates. It was 2004 when we had the first TRAFFIC conference hosted by Rick in Florida, and it was definitely discussed how stupid it seemed for a state like Florida to not just buy Florida.com. Whatever the asking price would have been back then, it'd be cheap and a tiny drop-in-the-bucket long term for the state of Florida.
Here are some other state licenses with websites printed on it (some were specialty plates, not the default plate):
arkansasstateparks.com
dmv.ca.gov
discoverohio.com
georgia.gov
kentuckywildlife.com
louisianatravel.com
michigan.org
exploreminnesota.com
myflorida.com
nebraska.gov
outdooralabama.com
tnvacation.com
travel2sc.com
virginia.org
visitnebraska.com
www.in.gov
Obviously not much of a rhyme or reason to these. Some are obviously really bad. And its not in just the domain name choice, but in how they display it. Minnesota gets a big fat "F" grade for looking like they have Minnesota.com, but actually have exploreminnesota.com and display it on their plate like this:
Vehicle registration plates of Minnesota - Wikipedia
Not only the spacing, but two completely different fonts, and if that wasn't enough, they changed the capitalization to boot. Are these decision makers living in the stone age??
A few others have the .org or .gov, which at least makes sense, so I'd give those "B" grade. Otherwise, a lot of pathetic and wasted opportunities out there. I think one serious problem is that the people in charge of these branding efforts have budgets, and they don't want to spend a dime more than they have to because their own salaries also come out of that budget. Apparently, doing something as simple as buying the .com would be completely counter to the branding baloney they are trying to pitch. This is a classic wall that pure geo domain owners hit with every tourism board.
A friend owns Pennsylvania.com and a few other states. I don't believe any states have placed any serious inquiries or offers, afaik.
