Calvin Ayre indicted, Bodog.com domain grabbed, yet business is as always
From GunGame5 Documentation
Bodog is absolutely one of the greatest names in on line gaming since they have been working from the middle of the 90's. Unfortunately, they’re such a huge name that the united states Division of Homeland Protection has been making a case against Bodog. This nowadays resulted in the seizure of the domain name Bodog.com, that was reported by CalvinAyre.com.
The very good news is that Bodog.com isn’t actually that important to the company’s operation since American players employ Bovada Poker now; those outside the Usa make use of the website name Bodog.eu. Therefore it doesn’t 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 issue, he was quoted as saying, “Not sure what to say. BodogBrand.com is a brand-licensing business based outside the us. The brand left the market this past year and the site in question has been inactive globally more than that.” He added, “We are just at the moment doing brand licensing deals outside the united states so this domain name had no location in any of our existing plans.”
Bodog founder Calvin Ayre has been indicted by federal prosecutors in Baltimore and the Bodog.com domain name has been grabbed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
In the indictment unsealed currently, Ayre, James Phillip, David Ferguson and Derrick Maloney are faced with performing a gambling business along with cash laundering. Rod Rosenstein, the U.S. Attorney in Baltimore, claims that the defendants "did intentionally and unlawfully conduct fund, manage, supervise, direct, and own all or part of an unlawful gambling business, to wit, a gambling business involving online sports betting."
"Sports wagering is illegal in Maryland, and federal law forbids bookmakers from flouting that law simply because they are positioned outside the country," said Rosenstein. "Numerous of the damages that underline gambling prohibitions are exacerbated once the enterprises perform over the internet without rules."
The indictment alleges which Bodog communicated with 2 processors to facilitate payments with players. The processors called in the indictment were JBL Providers, that allegedly processed a minimum of $43 million, and ZipPayments, which allegedly processed at least $57 million. Cash from either those processors was once grabbed by the IRS back in 2008.
Ayre responded to the indictments with a statement on his web site, CalvinAyre.com.
“I see this as abuse of the U.S. criminal justice system for the industrial gain of large U.S. firms," he claimed. "It is apparent that online blackjack industry is legal under international law and in the case of all of these paperwork is it also clear that the rule of law wasn't allowed to decrease a rush to try to try to win the war of public opinion."
Site visitors that log onto Bodog.com are welcomed with a Department of Justice seizure observe similar to the one which was plastered on the home pages of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and UB.com back on April 15, 2011. Nevertheless, the main difference in this notice is that it was issued by the Department of Homeland Security and not the Federal bureau of investigation.
The seizure shouldn't impact the short-term business of Bodog. The Bodog.com website name hasn't been in utilize since late this past year. That website name had already been switched to Bodog.eu and American gamers have been able to access Bovada.lv since December. Both of those web sites are operational as always.
