Calvin Ayre is Indicted for Illegal Gambling Business

Federal prosecutors in Baltimore unsealed an indictment against online sports betting site Bodog.com and its founder Calvin Ayre on Tuesday. Ayre has been accused of running an illegal sports gambling business and conspiracy to launder money.

The U.S. Attorney in Baltimore indicted Calvin Ayre and three other men, who are all believed to be in Canada. They are not currently in custody. Bodog Entertainment Group has also been indicted and its domain name has been seized.

The indictment claims that Ayre and the three other Canadian men (James Phillip, David Ferguson and Derrick Maloney) together supervised an illegal gambling business between June 2005 and January 2012. This business directly violates Maryland law.

The indictment itself is primarily concerned with movement of funds from accounts in Switzerland, Canada, Malta and England. Rod Rosenstein, the U.S. Attorney who filed the indictment, has emphasized bookmakers cannot escape the law "simply because they are located outside the country".

The prosecutors claim that Calvin Ayre is guilty of conspiring to transfer more than $100 million in gambling winnings to gamblers. The indictment also focuses the fact that Bodog and Ayre caused a media broker to run an advertising campaign worth $42 million between 2005 and 2008 with the goal of attracting U.S. gamblers to Bodog.com.

This move reminds us of a previous move by the Department of Justice to tackle internet gambling; in April 2011, the online poker companies Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars were shut down and their founders indicted for running illegal gambling businesses. As we eagerly anticipate the fate of Full Tilt Poker, the online gambling world will also keep an eye firmly set on Ayre and Bodog as events unfold.