Calvin Ayre indicted, Bodog.com domain seized, but business is as usual
Aus Salespoint
Bodog is absolutely one of the biggest names in on line gaming since they have been operating from the mid 90's. Unluckily, they’re such a great name that the united states Department of Homeland Safety has been building a case against Bodog. This recent times resulted in the seizure of the website name Bodog.com, that was noted by CalvinAyre.com.
The good news is that Bodog.com isn’t actually that essential to the company’s operation since American gamers utilize Bovada Poker now; those outside the Usa utilize the domain name Bodog.eu. So it does not actually make much sense that the Department of Homeland Security would waste their time confiscating this web site name.
As for Bodog founder Calvin Ayre’s thoughts on the matter, he was quoted as saying, “Not sure what to say. BodogBrand.com is a brand-licensing organization based outside the united states. The company left the market industry last year and the domain name in question has been dormant internationally for longer than that.” He added, “We are just recently doing brand licensing deals outside the us thus this domain had no place in any of our existing plans.”
Bodog founder Calvin Ayre has been indicted by federal prosecutors in Baltimore and the Bodog.com website name has been seized by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
In the indictment unsealed today, Ayre, James Phillip, David Ferguson and Derrick Maloney are faced with doing a gambling business as well as money laundering. Rod Rosenstein, the U.S. Attorney in Baltimore, alleges that the defendants "did purposefully and unlawfully perform fund, manage, supervise, direct, and have all or part of an illegal gambling business, to wit, a gambling business involving online sports betting."
"Sports wagering is outlawed in Maryland, and federal law prohibits bookmakers from flouting that law simply because they're positioned outside the country," claimed Rosenstein. "Numerous of the harms that underline gambling prohibitions are increased once the enterprises function over the web with out regulation."
The indictment alleges which Bodog communicated with 2 processors to facilitate payments with players. The processors named in the indictment were JBL Services, which allegedly processed a minimum of $43 million, and ZipPayments, which allegedly processed a minimum of $57 million. Cash from either those processors was once seized by the IRS back in 2008.
Ayre responded to the indictments with a statement on his website, CalvinAyre.com.
“I see this as misuse of the U.S. criminal justice system for the commercial obtain of big U.S. firms," he said. "It is clear that free blackjack industry is legal under international law and in the case of all these documents is it additionally clear that the rule of law wasn't permitted to slow down a rush to try to attempt to win the war of public opinion."
Site visitors who log onto Bodog.com are welcomed with a Department of Justice seizure observe similar to the one which was plastered on the house pages of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and UB.com back on April 15, 2011. However, the real difference in this notice is that it was issued by the Department of Homeland Security and not the Federal bureau of investigation.
The seizure should not affect the short-term business of Bodog. The Bodog.com website name hasn't been in make use of since late this past year. That website name had recently been switched to Bodog.eu and American players have been capable to access Bovada.lv since December. Each of those websites are operational as usual.
