Calvin Ayre, the Canadian founder of Bodog, announced on his blog earlier this week that he would be shutting down the group’s Costa Rican offices, effective immediately.
"A Costa Rican based business process outsourcing company (BPO) providing services to the Bodog Brand has expedited its closure after fears it will be wrongly associated with the Bodog.com Indictments,” wrote Ayre on Tuesday.
The billionaire philanthropist said that while the plan was to gradually shut down operations in Costa Rica in order to minimize disruption to local staff, unfortunately the closure was expedited after management feared that they could get caught up in the legal proceedings brought against Ayre and three other Canadians.
Last week, the US Department of Justice shut down the defunct Bodog.com domain name and indicted its founder, Ayre for conducting what they believe was an illegal sports betting business which generated more than $100 million in winnings.
If Ayre is convicted, he could face up to five years in prison for running his gambling business and another 20 for charges of money laundering of which he is accused. No dates have been set for a trial and none of the men are custody.
The Bodog brand has a huge international presence with offices in England, Vancouver, the Philippines and San Jose.
Ayre said that the Bodog.com domain had not been used for some time now, and anybody landing on the site is directed to Bodog.eu.