Calvin Syre.indd

AYRE
BY CHR I S T E S S A R O. P H O T O S C O U RT E S Y O F B O D O G . C O M
Here are some facts about Calvin Ayre: He’s 44 years old. He’s Canadian. He runs a
company called Bodog. Simple enough, right? UMM sat down with Mr. Ayre and chatted,
and we found out some more interesting things about him. Here are some facts about
Calvin Ayre: see if you can guess whether or not these facts are true or false.
CALVIN AYRE IS RICH: False. He is not
rich. Calvin Ayre is incredibly rich. Okay,
perhaps that was a bit of a trick question.
But rich simply does NOT describe
the personal wealth of this man. His
estimated personal worth? Over one
billion dollars. That’s BILLION. Last year
his company, Bodog, handled 7.3 billion
dollars in business, and had sales of 210
million. Of that 210 mil, over 25% was
pure profit. Most of which went right into
Mr. Ayre’s jeans. His very expensive jeans,
which he may wear lounging around
his 3.5 million dollar mansion in Costa
Rica. In Hollywood, 3.5 mil buys you a
bungalow. In Costa Rica, it buys you a
palace, with five servants and a trainedto-kill chauffer. Calvin is not only part of
the Forbes 500; he is one of VERY few
Canadians to ever make the cover of
Forbes. Now that is rich.
CALVIN AYRE IS SMART: True. Very,
very true. He’s smart in the savvy
businessman way. But more importantly,
he’s smart in the ‘think outside the box’
kind of way. Quick history lesson: Calvin is
the son of a Saskatchewan pig farmer. He
In 1996, no one had ever heard of online
gambling. THAT was when Calvin helped
launch some of the very first online
casinos. In 2000, he launched his own
site, called Bodog. He made it easy to
wager, accepting credit cards, and wire
transfers. But the very clever part of it
was the actual set up of Bodog. You see,
online gambling is illegal in the United
States. As it is in many countries. So
Calvin set up his business in Costa Rica,
with the actual computer servers on the
Kahnawake Indian reserve in Canada,
and his 200 person team of programmers
and techies located in Vancouver. And
this made his a somewhat ethereal
presence, not to mention the subject of
endless discussion by various government
agencies, as well as being exempt to
almost all taxes. Now THAT is smart.
“Bodog is an entertaining company, and
it’s a fun company to watch. Except for my
competitors. For them, I hope watching
our success gives them indigestion. I
prefer to change the whole game, invent a
whole new playing field, and force
everyone else to look at it and go ‘well,
NOW what do we do’? “
...THIS IS THE MAN WHO BROUGHT US THE LINGERIE
BOWL AND WHO ONCE ISSUED AN APRIL 1 PRESS
RELEASE TO HIS COMPANY APOLOGIZING FOR
LOSING BODOG IN A DRUNKEN POKER WAGER...
CALVIN AYRE IS BORING: False. “I’m
in the entertainment business.” And
entertaining he does. Never mind that
this is the man who’s Bodog brought us
The Lingerie Bowl. Or the man who once
issued an April 1 press release to his
company apologizing for losing Bodog
in a drunken poker wager with Virgin’s
Richard Branson.
“I’m a guy who is always looking for
some kind of excitement. I have a thirst
for adventure, and that’s the common
thread in everything I do.”
made his way to school in Ontario, and
picked up a university degree. To make his
way through college, he did little things
like purchase a truckload of fruit and sell
it by the roadside to earn some cash. He
‘dabbled’ in the market in Vancouver,
an enterprise that showed his ‘win at all
costs’ side, earning himself a slap on the
wrist and a ban from the Vancouver Stock
Exchange for 20 years.
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SUMMER 2006 • UMM.CA
And then there is Cole Turner. Cole Turner
was at one point the public front for
Bodog. Turner led an Indiana Joneslike existence that had him at one point
hacking his way through the jungles of
Thailand with a machete, fighting drug
runners and terrorists along the way. His
adventures were posted on the internet,
along with digital pictures of his running
battles, including his being stabbed.
What does that have to do with Calvin?
Turner was simply a product of Ayre’s
fertile marketing mind, a character he
dreamed up simply for the P.R. We asked
Ayre where Cole Turner came from. His
answer? “Too much beer.” And a great
mind, we might add.
What else has he done? As Bodog
continues its explosive growth, the
company continues to branch off into
other avenues of the entertainment
business. They now house a stable of
up and coming recording artists, and
filming was just completed on a reality
poker show called Wild Card Poker. In
keeping with Ayre’s mystique, the Costa
Rican authorities raided the wrap party at
Calvin’s estate, acting on a bad tip that
there were poker tables and gambling
going on there (gambling, ironically, is
illegal in Costa Rica). The cameras caught
the action, and there is little doubt that
the raid and the aftermath will make it
into the TV show.
Calvin Ayre loves beautiful women: True.
Aside from being linked romantically to
such names as Shannon Elizabeth, Ayre
has shared his love of beautiful women
with everyone within viewing distance.
And not just run of the mill models. No,
when Calvin supplied Bodog girls to dress
up the Card Player awards, the group
included a state beauty queen. “Put this
in your story: I love beautiful women. I like
going out with girls. Lots of them. That’s
my quote. Wait. Here’s another quote for
you; “It’s amazing how much easier it is
to get a date when you’re on the cover of
Forbes.”
Bodog and Ayre are the title sponsor of
the Lingerie Bowl for the next ten years.
That’s the kind of commitment to hot
women that you have to admire.
We have heard the last of Calvin Ayre:
False. “I just launched Bodog Battle of
the Bands, which they’re shooting for a
reality show. I have another show coming
with the Lifestyle channel, and a couple
of other shows in the works. I also have
an Ultimate fighting concept that’s a little
twisted, that I’m looking for a channel that
will take it.”
Calvin remains a busy man. He contends
that his biggest issue right now is dealing
with the massive growth of Bodog. So
what’s next? “I’d just like to go on a
holiday. I haven’t had a day off in twelve
months. But, actually…well, I’m writing a
book now too. It’s a reality book, because
the crazy stuff of reality makes a great
story.”
WE KNOW ONE THING FOR CERTAIN:
CALVIN AYRE IS ALREADY A GREAT
STORY. TRUE…