Cyber Bookie Billionaire Said Police Were Mistaken And Is Not Thinking of Leaving Costa Rica
Calvin Ayre, the Canadian bookie to make the Forbes list of the richest people in the world, says that the dozens of police that barged into his Costa Rican home thought that unlicensed gaming was going on, but in reality, his mansion was being used as part of filming a celebrity poker tournament.

"They came in like they were raiding Al Capone's lair," said Ayre, 44.

Police seized a laptop computer and small files containing organizational material for the shoot in Friday's raid, said Peter Karroll, head of bodog.com's entertainment division.

Ayre said no one was arrested.

Police were unavailable for comment. However, Ayre did come out publicly to say at a local press conference that he is not thinking of leaving Costa Rica and that the police action was simply a "misunderstanding". Ayre added that he is considering filming more programs here.  "I prefer doing business here, because I like it", said Ayre

During the 45 minute press interview, Ayre's lawyer, Gloria Navas, explained that the filming was for Fox and that the gambling segments were done at the local television station studio and the filming at the house did not include any gambling segments.

Ayre and Navas both insisted that none of the persons at the house were working. The bodyguards immigration police mistaken for Ayre's bodyguards were actors in the filming and no one was being paid. Navas stressed that none of the participants in the show have been contracted to work or being paid a fee. Any payment to these people was done by an international company outside of Costa Rica.

Asked about the firearms found during the police raid, Ayre asked back "what firearms? I wasn't there at the time. I saw no firearms."

Ayre told the press that his company in Costa Rica employees about 200 people and pays all the taxes and follows all the regulations that exist in Costa Rica, but he personally sells nothing in Costa Rica and makes zero income here.

During the coming week, Ayre is expected to go before a court to explain his activities at the house Friday night that led to the police raiding the mansion in a swank neighbourhood in Santa Ana, west of San José.

Raised on a pig farm in Saskatchewan, Ayre founded bodog.com 10 years ago and runs it out of Costa Rica, where gambling laws are less strict than in North America. He was featured on Forbes' newly released annual list as Canada's newest billionaire.

The Web site takes bets on sports events and runs online poker games. Ayre's profile on bodog.com describes him as an "online entrepreneur, jetsetter, maverick, industry leader."

He said his appearance on the Forbes cover prompted local press speculation that he was organizing illegal gambling in his home. A judge then ordered the raid. "When you're on the cover of Forbes, you attract a lot of attention," he said.