Was The Calvin Ayre Raid A Bodog Stunt?

Published: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

WAS THE CALVIN AYRE RAID A BODOG PUBLICITY STUNT?

If it was, then it has been highly successful

The weekend happenings at Calvin Ayre's upmarket Costa Rican mansion, where "busloads" of police staged a raid on grounds of suspected illegal gambling early one evening have received widespread mainstream media coverage and considerable Internet exposure, giving fresh impetus to speculation that there may have been a hidden publicity motive.

It would seem that very little was achieved by the raid, although the local constabulary have yet to comment on the contents of a laptop which they confiscated. Calvin Ayre was not arrested, and the 100 or so party-goers moved to another location.

Ayre, the billionaire head of the Bodog gambling and media entertainment group was throwing the party to mark the end of filming of his upcoming TV reality program, and the police evidently were under the impression that real and illegal poker play was going on. Clearly it wasn't, but other immigration and firearm irregularities were seemingly uncovered in pursuance of the warrant held by police.

The newspaper AM Costa Rica was quick to point out that Ayre is skilled and practised at creating and exploiting publicity opportunities through his Bodog.com organisation, and pointed out that some who have followed his gambits wonder if the raid is not exactly what his poker championship reality television show needed.

The week before the raid, Ayre was the cover focus of the annual Forbes "Worlds Richest People" edition, and in an interview he rather cheekily thumbed his nose at the authorities in the U.S. from whence comes much of his gambling action, challenging them to "catch me if you can" with typical Ayre sound bite-conscious insouciance.

The online tabloid style Gambling 911, long a supporter of Bodog and a historical collaborator in Calvin Ayre's "Cole Turner" Indiana Jones-esque publicity drive has also given the raid, and Ayre's new TV show, ongoing major coverage and hype.

Whatever the motive, this apparently failed raid has scored an inordinate amount of publicity, and if that was the goal it has succeeded admirably.

On a more mundane note, Ayre is apparently due to appear before the authorities this week to respond to official questions. Reports on that meeting, and perhaps an official comment from the government in Costa Rica may shed more light on the incident.