Calvin Ayre to Fold 'Em?

2008-04-21
Jonny Vincent

The online gaming industry was stunned this week with the announcement that Bodog's popular and flamboyant founder and CEO Calvin Ayre is hanging up his online gaming gloves to concentrate on charitable work.

Ayre is one of the most high-profile industry executives in online gambling, and the announcement of his retirement was greeted by widespread surprise and scepticism. Ayre later confirmed the news on his personal blog:
"You've likely heard the rumblings and rumors….and for once…..it's true…I'm packing it in!...I was really more of a brand ambassador for Bodog the past while anyway – but it was fun while it lasted."

Ayre has led a remarkable, if controversial,

life. A Vancouver Sun report linked Ayre to a 1987 marijuana-trafficking ring whilst he was still at university. Ayre was not charged but his father and brother-in-law both received lengthy jail sentences. Ayre was also linked with a shady Vancouver company (Bicer Medical Systems) in 1989, his first year out of university. In 1996, Ayre reached a settlement with the British Columbia Securities Commission for violations of the Securities Act and received a 20-year suspension from the British Columbia securities market.

Calvin Ayre is best-known for taking turning a $10,000 starting kitty into a multi-billion dollar online gaming and entertainment empire under the Bodog brand (which includes the popular Bodog Casino). His online gambling operations and flamboyant personality has made him a prime target for US DoJ officials, and Ayre would almost certainly find himself under arrest if he travelled to the US.

Some analysts have speculated that Ayre has simply tired of battling on multiple fronts, including an ongoing, acrimonious patent case which forced Bodog to rebuild operations on new domain names. Ayre himself says he simply wants to spend more time working on the Calvin Ayre Foundation, a charity he founded in 2005:
"While it has been great fun to live my life in front of the world's cameras and online though my blog, I am looking forward to a more private and meaningful period of giving back and working to support the Calvin Ayre Foundation."

Whatever Ayre does decide to do in the future, you can be sure he won't stay out of the headlines for long.