The U.S. government recently seized $24 million from bank accounts linked to Bodog, the giant, illegal-under-U.S.-law Internet gaming operation founded by Canadian tycoon Calvin Ayre.

Federal filings make very clear that a serious criminal investigation of the Bodog enterprise is ongoing. At a minimum, word of the seizures is likely to rattle the confidence of U.S.-based online gamblers that they will receive their winnings, not only from Bodog but from the industry's other remaining participants.

Detailed in court filings in a Baltimore federal court, the Bodog-related seizures from such well-known institutions as Wachovia (nyse: WB - news - people ), Bank of America (nyse: BAC - news - people ), SunTrust Banks (nyse: STI - news - people ) and Regions Bank, a unit of Regions Financial (nyse: RF - news - people ), increase the possibility of criminal action against Ayre himself. There already has been published speculation in his native Canada that he is under secret indictment somewhere in the U.S.

The U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore, which launched the two lawsuits to take the $24 million, did not respond to a request for comment.

The flamboyant Ayre--media reports often call him a "playboy"--is now believed to be in Antigua and Barbuda, a country in the eastern Caribbean. He has denied being on the lam. A request on Wednesday for comment from Ayre, sent through the Web site of his Antigua-based Calvin Ayre Foundation, was not immediately returned. Nor were call and e-mail messages sent to public relations contacts listed on Bodog's Web site.

In early 2006 Ayre rocketed to international prominence--and the cover of Forbes magazine' annual issue on the world's billionaires--for his stewardship from Costa Rica of Bodog Entertainment Group and his open flouting of authorities in the U.S., his major market. The story headline: "Catch Me If You Can." The operation was said at the time to be handling $7.3 billion yearly in poker, casino and sports event wagers.

But since then, Ayre has been the subject of law-enforcement raids abroad and growing regulatory scrutiny, especially in the U.S. In late 2006 President Bush signed a law strengthening the prohibition on online gambling. Ayre fell off the Forbes worldwide billionaires list after just one year, amid a decline in his industry's fortunes.

In overall actions against the industry, federal prosecutors in New York have charged executives of Neteller with illegally processing online gaming transactions. This summer, Canada's ESI Entertainment Systems, an Internet payment business, entered into a "deferred prosecution agreement" with the same prosecutors. The company admitted to criminal wrongdoing and agreed to disgorge $9.1 million in criminal proceeds for its role in processing $2 billion in Internet gambling payments for hundreds of thousands of U.S. customers. Criminal cases have been started against various online gambling shops.

Ayre has been trying to put legal distance between himself and the operation he founded in the 1990s. For years its business was run through Internet servers belonging to Mohawk Internet Technologies, located on the Kahnawake Reserve Indian reservation in Quebec, Canada. In September 2007 Bodog said its North American operations would be licensed to Morris Mohawk Group, also located on the reservation and run by tribal chief Alwyn Morris.

Three months ago, Ayre, now 47, said he had transferred ownership of Bodog itself to Morris Mohawk Group. "It's true; I'm packing it in," Ayre wrote on a Web site.

Court filings in Maryland say that in January and February a total of $14.2 million was seized from accounts in the name of JBL Services and Transaction Solutions at Wachovia, Regions Bank, Bank of America and Sun Trust Bank. In July, filings say, another $9.9 million was found in eight accounts at Nevada State Bank, a unit of Zion Bancorporation (nasdaq: ZION - news - people ), in the name of Zaftig Instantly Processed Payments, doing business as ZipPayments.com. The companies are described as helping to facilitate parts of the Bodog operation.

The court papers detail an elaborate international structure put together to allow Bodog to collect money and write checks to winning gamblers in the U.S. One affidavit by Randall S. Carrow, a special agent with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division, said that $248 million involving entities linked to Bodog was processed through Wachovia Bank, from which $11 million of the $24 million was seized.

In a statement to Forbes, Wachovia said the bank cooperated with law enforcement, doesn't knowingly allow Internet gaming operations to open accounts, and the funds ending up at the bank were in accounts of a third-party credit card servicer. The statement also hinted that various accounts might have been kept open at the request of investigators to aid their efforts.

According to Carrow's detailed sworn statements, the IRS's Criminal Investigation Division started looking at Bodog in 2003 and opened a formal probe in 2006. The extensive sleuthing has involved close examination of public and bank records, the enlisting of unnamed cooperating witnesses and informants, and undercover efforts to make bets on football and collect winnings.

Ayre, says Carrow's statement, is president of Middleton Financial, a Nevada corporation described as a key cog in the U.S. Bodog machinery, as well as Stratham Finance, said to be based in Malta. Other entities linked to Ayre in the court filings are Gateway Financial Services, EBanx Ltd., Gregor Financial Ltd. and Calvtek Industries. The filings list dozens of businesses involved in processing Bodog transactions.

The ongoing federal pressure to disrupt Bodog's financial transactions may be bearing fruit. Carrow's affidavits say several checks issued from Bodog to its undercover gambler bounced.

A break in the inquiry came in May, one of Carrow's affidavits says, when an undercover operative for "another state's gambling commission" received a check that didn't bounce from an account at Nevada State Bank, which is headquartered in Las Vegas. That led to the $9.9 million seizure this month. The bank had no immediate comment.

Carrow's affidavits were filed in connection with the U.S.'s successful efforts to get a federal judge to authorize the seizures. But to keep the money permanently, federal prosecutors must file a civil lawsuit and allow a challenge by anyone with a claimed interest. No one fought the $14.2 million seizure, and it was ordered forfeited to the feds. The lawsuit over the $9.9 million--its official name is United States of America v. $9,869,283.05--was just filed.

Even before the advent of Bodog, Ayre carried considerable baggage. Close family members were convicted of drug trafficking. (Ayer himself was never charged.) In 1996 Ayre was banned for 20 years from the British Columbia securities industry for stock market offenses. By that time, he was already moving into online gaming.

"One of the things that drives me is the excitement that I could fail," he told Forbes in 2006. "What better buzz can you get?"

What a farce. A complete and total farce and our government is an absolute joke. Bunch of hypocritical dicks.

It's a damn shame. It kind of reminds me of Johnny Depp's character in "Blow", except what Ayre and Bodog have done should not be illegal in any way, shape, or form. (That is, as long as they really weren't doing anything illegal - as in laundering or book cooking or any of that nonsense.)

FROM BoDog;


Good afternoon,
An article was recently released on Forbes.com that creates several misimpression's that the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group feels compelled to clarify for our customers.
As most of our customers already know, all operators outsource payment processing functions to third parties and these payment processors are subject to regulatory constraints wherever they operate, and, occasionally in the US, are subject to legal action because of the uncertain legal environment there.
However, the seizure of funds from these US payment processors was mischaracterized in this article, which refers to two specific legal cases against US processors. Rightly or wrongly, the article does not make a clear distinction between these cases, which, as a result, paints a misleading picture.
The facts are these: the first of these cases – relating to a seizure of funds from a processor known as JBL Services – happened some time ago and has absolutely nothing to do with the current payment processing challenges being experienced in the US. The constraints being experienced by payment processors in the US are universal in that region and not specific to any particular processor or site. Also, note that not one single player failed to get paid when this processor was disrupted.
The second case refers to a payment processor known as Zippayments.com and seizure of funds from this processor’s bank accounts in Nevada. The article falsely implies – but notably does not go so far as to state - that $9.9M seized from Zippayment’s Nevada bank accounts were funds on account for “Bodog”. This is simply false.
Processing partners with whom the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group does business are sophisticated organizations that are perfectly clear as to the actual facts of these cases and their contexts. They are unfazed by such media hype and Morris Mohawk wishes to ensure that its customers are similarly informed. Customer deposits are safe and every player has and will always be paid.
Alwyn Morris
C.E.O.
Morris Mohawk Gaming Group

It's going to get worse...Run, don't walk and pull your offshore investments. Not worth the risk, IMO.

I'll keep only what is absolutely necessary on deposit offshore and the rest in the bank. And I will continue to make frequent withdrawals from my offshore accounts. I'll agree with what's been stated above concerning hypocrisy. Our government is the hands-down world leader in that category.

This really sux! Bodog is one of the few poker sites left that I enjoy playing at! Wonder which site will be next. It has been a rumor for a year or two now that they were after Bodog, I was hoping it would never happen!

Feds are drooling to get him. I know he cancelled a visit to Las Vegas a while back because they were waiting for him at MaCarran.

i feel much better and safer now. no problems in the u.s. except the damn gamblers

ya the hell with BinLaden. lets get the gamblers

Well if anyone knew Bin Ladens screen name, we might be able to catch him.

I swear he draws out on me every hand. Bastard!!!!!

this is a little unnerving i think. the thing i'm unsure about is the extent to which the issue is about payment processors or about Bodog (an offshore sportsbook servicing US players). if its only about 3rd party payment processors i don't think it's too big of a deal because payment processors will always come and go.

if this is more about Bodog (i.e. an offshore sportsbook) then thats more scary. unless there is something different about the Bodog situation than for other sportsbooks. i seem to remember Bodog having a really strong rating on sportsbookreview.com not too long ago (it's a B- now). anyone have any more thoughts or more knowledge of this situation?

Bodog is a powerhouse book that is fine financially but its processing time for checks is beyond the A rating standard. If they do pick up the pace they will likely be upgraded. I think it is best to instead use a similar book like Jamaica at least until the dust settles.

That was a answer I recieved from SBR.

I consider it the best book for recreational players.

"Well if anyone knew Bin Ladens screen name, we might be able to catch him."

"Baseballsystems..."

ROFL!!!

It was too tempting!!!

I've have always said. Only keep a small amount of your bankroll in any online account. If something happens, then you are not totally exposed. It really shouldn't be this big of deal. Be smart people, and everything will be fine. Our gov cannot enforce this, and they know it.

They seem to only get into this BS when they are bored.....

Maybe we will have to over populate Las Vegas...


Why dont they find something better to do. Like take care of the country!!

So Calvin "retires", sells to the Indians.......and is probably smoking Havanas on some island surrounded by (who knows what), while people are sweating it out with this kind of news.

It's all an illusion folks, one big smokescreen. Spread it around like Craiger suggested.....good advice.

You all have to wait...

Canada, Windsor really, is getting ready to take on Vegas.


Quebec will follow. Then all this is history.


We can already do this gambling in Quebec. Just parlays so far with really bad odds!!!

Once the money game really begins, it will not stop. City after American city will fall.

I say Detroit first...

$5 net wager. lol!!!

If Windsor does it, Detroit will want to get even. Get the cash back from those nasty Canadians!!!

They will follow no logic, greed of tax income will rule the day. And city after city, will not be able to resist the tax income. It will spread across state borders.

It will be a total mess within a few years. lol!!!

They will pyramid each other, trying to grab the gamblers money.

Tax free loans, that sort of thing.

I think we are in for glorious times!!! LOL!!!

My predictions of the future fail me sometimes, but pretty sure on this one... : )

What???

So I indulged a little in ear candy to seek truth...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGXYiIDTPDI