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July 19 - The US Department of Justice has officially taken off the kid gloves and the threat posed to online gambling companies now seems very real and immediate. The arrest of BETonSPORTS CEO David Carruthers has a lot of people worried, but not Bodog.com CEO Calvin Ayre apparently.
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Ayre is intent on going ahead with the third annual Bodog Marketing Conference, scheduled to take place this coming weekend in Las Vegas. While other online gambling company CEO's are keeping a low profile, with some reportedly in hiding deep in the lush greenery of Costa Rica, Ayre continues to dare the DOJ to come and get him.
Previously it was thought that non-US citizens who operated gambling websites had a sort of diplomatic immunity when they visited the USA. Carruthers is a British national who resides in Costa Rica, but he was arrested while he was changing planes in the USA. Carruthers was en route to Costa Rica from the UK when he was detained by federal agents.
Many industry insiders are confident that Ayre will be the next high-profile CEO to be arrested. One offshore bookie said that Calvin was -2000 to be arrested, very heavy chalk indeed!
It's no joking matter unfortunately. The Department of Justice has a specific dispute with BETonSPORTS but the broader ramifications for the entire industry should not be downplayed, and to ignore what is going on right now seems foolish.
Not surprisingly investors are not ignoring this arrest, nor the unsealing of eleven indictments regarding the activities of BETonSPORTS senior management. Stocks in online gambling companies fell sharply on exchanges from Toronto to London. Companies like PartyGaming, Sportingbet, and 888 all saw their shares trade lower as a result.
So it looks like we'll see Calvin Ayre at the conference, but we might do so from a distance. He is happy to appear on the cover of Forbes, and to jet in to LA in order to buy a Maserati and catch a tan, but we'll tread a little more warily in the "land of the free" thank you very much.
Here at the Insider we can't decide whether America is Orwellian, Draconian or a delightful combination of the two...
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