GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 10 - Sept 2009

GPWA Times :: urprise! He’s back. Well, technically, Calvin Ayre never left “Bodog Land,” but he is no longer an onlinegamblingoperator, that is for sure. In fact, Calvin sold the “Bodog” database and much of the existing infrastructure to the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group (MMGG), something thatmanypeopleareunaware of. The only thing he kept was the Bodog brand itself,whichwas then licensedback to the MMGG for marketing purposes. Even then, he had a plan for the brand beyond online gaming...something that should not surprise anyone who knows Calvineven remotely. It has become obvious tome over the past fewmonths, especially since Calvin took a stepback into the limelight, thatnoonehas a clue about what he has been up to over the past few years. After spending a lot of timewith this clairvoyant industry icon in Antigua,IamheretoanswerallyourCalvin questions in plain English rather than in the scary legal and technical language that you see in the iGaming publications. In true Bodog fashion, Calvin Ayre’s journey since theUIGEAhas been awild one, and hisplans for the futureareevenbetter, so I hopeyouenjoy theride. However, before diving into the meat of my findings – for those of you who just want to know one thing and don’t care about the rest – I’ll kindly provide the answer: Yes.He is still single. Calvin retires... fromonlinegambling Take it from me, Calvin Ayre is far from being retired, but it is true that he has zero interest in running an online gambling company ever again. After the U.S. government passed the UIGEA, and the European public online gaming companies pulledout of theU.S.market, Calvin decided to sell the entire U.S.- facing operation to Alywn Morris, CEO of the MMGG. Calvin may have sold the operation but he kept the famous “Bodog” brand name, and licensed it back to MMGG for their marketing purposes. During the initial transition period following thesale,Calvinservedas a Bodog brand ambassador for MMGG, andwhen this transitionperiodwasover, Calvinofficially “retired” inMay2008. Post retirement,Calvin retainedan inter- est in theAntiguanbrand licensing orga- nization, BodogBrand.com, which kept all the rights to the trademark Bodog brand.WithCalvin’shelp,thisorganization worked to identify new businesses and online gamingoperators that couldbring the brand intoEurope, Asia and beyond. While it is true that Calvin has no di- rect involvement or contractual relation- S Bodog shooting for the stars