Feds Indict Calvin Ayre for Online Gambling

Federal prosecutors in the US state of Maryland unsealed an indictment against Bodog founder and online gambling pioneer Calvin Ayre on Tuesday, in a move that is sure to rick the gaming world in the same way as Black Friday last year.

US Attorney Rod Rosenstein indicted Ayre and three other Canadians involved in Bodog, accusing them of supervising an illegal gambling business from 2005 until the present day that is in violation of Maryland law. The indictment concentrated on the transfer of funds from accounts outside the US - in Canada, the UK, Switzerland and Malta.

All the men are believed to be in Canada right now, and none of them were taken into custody by US authorities. However, Bodog Entertainment Group is also under indictment, and its domain name has been seized by federal prosecutors in the US - as was the case for PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker during last year's Black Friday indictments.

Ayre responded immediately through his own gaming website CalvinAyre.com, accusing US authorities of abusing their own criminal justice system for the commercial gain of large US corporations, and of sending the indictments to Forbes business magazine in order to use the media against him.

"It is clear that the online gaming industry is legal under international law and in the case of these documents it is also clear that the rule of law was not allowed to slow down a rush to try to win the war of public opinion," he said.