Cyber Bookie Billionaire Faces Raid By Costa Rican Police
What are the odds? If anyone would know, it would surely be Calvin Ayre.

Yesterday morning, the news of Calvin Ayre, the lad from Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, who is today Canada's newest billionaire and cover boy at Forbes, the U.S.- based magazine that keeps the world's scorecard on the rich, made the print and online press in Costa Rica and around the world.

The stories told of how the 44-year-old Ayre moved into one of the globe's most exclusive clubs as founder of Bodog.com, the online gambling behemoth he operates out of Costa Rica because what he's doing has never been licensed by a government in Canada.

However, the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ), the Ministerio Público and the Policía Migratoria (immigration police) did not see it quite that way, and decided to raid the home of Ayre, basing their actions on his infraction with Ley de Juegos - the Costa Rican Gambling Law.

The order came from the Juzgado de Pavas, Fiscalía de Trámite Rápido the fraud section of the OIJ.

The raid began at 6:30pm and lasted from almost four hours in the swank residential Villa del Sol in Pozos de Santa Ana.

Ayre said that he ran his gaming business from his luxurious home and authorities went in to see if he had the necessary permits to run his business from that location. Authorities also found that Ayre's bodyguards carried firearms and are looking into if they have permits for doing so.

The news stories told of how Ayre, a University of Waterloo grad who financed his education by selling Okanagan Valley apples, cherries and peaches on the Prairies, says he now makes a cool billion based on wagers on sports events such as the upcoming NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, NFL games and his online casino.

He'll even take bets on the last one off the island on Survivor.

Ayre has since moved into music marketing and distribution and is taping a Fox Sports Network "poker lifestyle" series. He's a renowned analyst and consultant in the online gaming industry, owns real estate in Vancouver's desirable Yaletown area and farmland in B.C., and is a licensed pilot and certified scuba diver.

Recent pictures of Bodog events include shots of Ayre with sports icons Mike Ditka and Reggie Jackson, actor Colin Farrell, musicians Bif Naked and Snoop Dogg, and even (oops) O.J. Simpson.

He started the company 10 years ago with $10,000. By the end of 2005, it was estimated Bodog.com had taken in $6 billion (U.S.) in wagers.

"Instead of doing things for money, I do things for love," Ayre said in an interview yesterday from San José. "If you do it out of love, you'll do it a lot better than if you do it for money.

"I never thought I'd make this kind of money — oh, maybe a couple of million — but I've carved out an excellent lifestyle because of this business."

Ayre, who calls himself "heavily single," grew up on a Saskatchewan pig farm, born to what he calls a family of entrepreneurs.

He ascribes his success to marketing — he is, he says, the best marketer in the industry.

"I have the strongest brand in the world in this industry," he says. "There's no secret to it. It's just mainstream marketing, being creative and linking the right values to our brand.

"Everything else is overblown."

But online gaming is not a license to print money, and most analysts agree it takes a certain savvy and marketing know-how to turn such a site into such a success story.

Money accrues to the house by a commission charged to the bettor, but to make the business truly profitable, it must pay very close attention to the "line," or the odds against one team winning, so as to avoid ending up with big paydays to the bettors.

Ayre says he makes most of his money from poker and casino gambling.

"It's easy. Everything I do is easy. I've been doing this a long time and helped start the whole industry," he says.

Ayre is one of four Canadian additions to the Forbes billionaire list this year, bringing Canadian membership in such rarefied ranks to 21.

In his magazine cover, Ayre is pictured holding a stack of poker chips beside the headline, Cyber Bookie Calvin Ayre Sticks it to Uncle Sam.

"He has an interesting story and online gaming produced four new billionaires this year," said Forbes spokesperson Meghan Womack.

"Plus it's illegal in the U.S., which adds a twist."

In Canada, Ayre says, governments have maintained a "hands off'' approach to online gaming, understanding that a number of Canadians are employed in "back channel" operations in the industry, including a technical services and marketing company that Ayres holds in Vancouver.

The U.S. is more aggressive in dissuading the industry from operating within its borders than Canada, although no Canadian provincial or federal government has ever issued an online gambling license.

"It would only be illegal to operate in Canada without a licence," says Ayre. "Costa Rica provides me with a very healthy environment in which to operate."

The Canadian billionaires list is dotted with familiar names, including Charles Bronfman, Jean Coutu, Paul Desmarais, Wallace McCain, Ted Rogers, Jim Pattison and Galen Weston.