Is online gambling empire Bodog losing top dog?, by David Baines, Vancouver Sun - 22nd April 2008
Maverick Canadian businessman and part-time Vancouver resident Calvin Ayre says he has quit Bodog, the online gambling empire that brought him fame, fortune and heat.
"It's true, I'm packing it in," Ayre announced Monday on Bodog's website.
"I'm totally surprised. It's the last thing I would have expected," said Chris Costigan, publisher of Gambling911.com, which closely follows the online gambling industry, in an interview from Miami Beach, Fla.
"I don't know how somebody could go from being the centre of attention to a recluse," Costigan said. "Whether he can keep that up, I somehow doubt it."
Ayre, now 47, became involved in the online gambling industry in the late 1990s, and introduced Bodog in 2000.
He promoted Bodog as a lifestyle, along the lines of Richard Branson's Virgin and Hugh Hefner's Playboy. He also diversified into music, mixed martial arts and film, which attracted more attention to the website.
By 2006, the company was generating more than $7 billion US in wagers, making it the seventh-largest online gambling company in the world.
That same year, Forbes magazine featured Ayre on the cover of its March issue as one of the world's 794 billionaires. People magazine named him one of its 40 hottest bachelors.
Ayre lived in a multi-million-dollar compound in Costa Rica (he has since moved to Antigua) and maintained a $6.2-million penthouse in Yaletown.
He also ran two related business in Metro Vancouver. One was Riptown Media, which employed close to 250 people in advertising and marketing support in downtown Vancouver. The other was Triple Crown Customer Service, which employed an estimated 200 people in customer account services in Burnaby.
By all appearances, Ayre was living a charmed life. Then his past came back to haunt him.
Reporters revealed he had been implicated in a marijuana-trafficking ring in 1987. He was not charged, but his father and brother in law received lengthy jail terms.
Reporters also revealed he was involved in a shady Vancouver company called Bicer Medical Systems. In 1996, he admitted to serious stock offences and agreed to a 20-year suspension from the B.C. securities market.
Meanwhile, U.S. Department of Justice officials stepped up their war on online gambling. They made it clear they had Ayre in their crosshairs. Fearing arrest, he stayed clear of U.S. soil.
His announced departure may indicate he has tired of the cat-and-mouse game with U.S. authorities. On the other hand, it may signal a renewal of that same game.
As well as announcing his departure, Ayre announced he had transferred ownership of Bodog last year to the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, which runs hundreds of gaming websites from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal.
"I was really more of a brand ambassador for Bodog the past while anyway -- but it was fun while it lasted," he said on the Bodog website.
This was news indeed. Last September, Ayre announced he had licensed Bodog's North American operations to the Morris Mohawk Group, but there was no indication he had transferred ownership.
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Calvin Ayre
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