Bodog Entertainment is an online gambling, music and entertainment company headquartered in Antigua and licensed in Kahnawake, Antigua and Barbuda, San José, Costa Rica and the United Kingdom. Bodog maintains an online sportsbook and racebook, an online casino and an online poker room. The company was founded in 1994 by Calvin Ayre.

Contents

Company

Bodog also owns Bodog.net (the play money version of their regular gaming site), as well as an international music label called Bodog Music, and a television production division which produces shows such as Calvin Ayre Wild Card Poker that appeared on Fox Sports Net.

In May 2007 Bodog garnered media attention with an entertainment bet that asked if Heather Mills [the ex-wife of former Beatle Paul McCartney] would lose her prosthetic leg during taping of "Dancing with the Stars".[1] "The Sopranos" season finale in June of 2007 was another popular prop bet for Bodog, [2] as was the June 27, 2007 Paris Hilton-Larry King interview, in which the gambling Web site accepted wagers on what the hotel heiress would say and wear during her first televised interview following her release from a Los Angeles jail.[3]

In 2006, Bodog launched a mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion called BodogFight. It aired on the Outdoor Life Network and The Fight Network (in Canada), as well as being broadcast online. BodogFight also had a distribution deal with ION Media Networks.

The game Scarface: The World Is Yours features a Bodog Stampede, a large, fast vehicle with an automatic machine gun attached on the top. The in-game car was designed by Bodog. Several minigames in Scarface bear the Bodog name, including video poker machines, slot machines, and games of blackjack. In-game billboards also include the names of several Bodog Music bands. The Bodog founder (and recent Forbes billionaire) Calvin Ayre will appear as a nonplayable character in the game.

In 2008, Bodog announced the signing of hip hop legend DMX and will release two albums on the same day both titled Walk with Me Now and You'll Fly with Me Later later this year, making it his debut on the label.

Bodogsite

Bodog Music

Bodog Music is a record company owned by Bodog Entertainment. The roster of the record label includes:

Legal

The ABC news magazine show Nightline highlighted the website and its legal ambiguities in an episode that originally aired on July 7, 2006.[4]

In August 2006, a lawsuit was filed and later withdrawn by Bluemoon Entertainment. The lawsuit was withdrawn because Bodog had very few assets based in the United States.[5]

In October 2006, the U.S. government passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act which prohibits banks from processing transactions for online gambling operators. Though the act did not make online gambling itself illegal per se, many online casinos and poker rooms abandoned the U.S. market, though Bodog chose to continue to serve U.S. players.

On August 1, 2007 a judge for the Superior Court of King County, Washington issued a default judgment in the amount of $ 48,937,456.00 in the case of 1st Technology LLC v. Bodog Entertainment Group S.A. for 1st Technology's patent infringement claim.[6] Bodog's founder claims that the company was not served and that the company has an insufficient presence in the United States to infringe any US patents.[7]

Due to the judgment, Bodog "temporarily" lost control of the Bodog.com URL. That day they moved operations to a new URL, newbodog.com. On September 19, 2007, Bodog transferred their domain from NewBodog.com to BodogLife.com.

On July 30, 2008 Forbes magazine released news[8] of an IRS affidavit[9] from forfeiture lawsuit in Baltimore, Maryland reporting an investigation conducted by IRS Special agent Randall S. Carrow in the matter of the seizure of over $24M in assets from bank accounts inside the United States that are said to involved in what appears to be money laundering[9] activities in order to process payments to users of the Bodog online gambling casino. The filings are said to involve an elaborate international structure of bank accounts at numerous institutions such as Wachovia, Sun Trust Banks, Bank of America, Regions Bank, Nevada State Bank, a division of Zions Bancorporation in the name of Zaftig Instantly Processed Payments, doing business as ZipPayments.com and business' said to be linked directly to Calvin Ayre. The filings list dozens of businesses involved in processing Bodog transactions. Bodog replied that the Forbes article created "several misimpressions" and offered a "misleading picture."[10]

Poker

Professional poker players David Williams, Justin Bonomo, Jean-Robert Bellande and Evelyn Ng are members of Team Bodog and play regularly in the Bodog poker room. At the time of his victory, 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event winner Jamie Gold was also a member of Team Bodog, but that business relationship ended on January 25, 2007.[11] Team Bodog poker player Matt McCullough finished third at the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event taking home £381,910 ($766,674 US). [12]

References

  1. ^ "Heather Mills adds a spark to 'Stars'", USA Today March 18, 2007
  2. ^ "Tony Soprano Lives -- or Dies: Place Your Bets", abc NEWS June 8, 2007
  3. ^ "Gambling Web Site Taking Bets on What Hilton Will Say", CNN June 27, 2007
  4. ^ "Online Gambling Mogul Living it Up", ABCNews July 7, 2006
  5. ^ Bluemoon Entertainment Press Release: "Bodog Uses Offshore Status to Evade U.S. Lawsuit", (Aug 9, 2006)
  6. ^ 1st Technology LLC vs. Bodog Entertainment
  7. ^ Bodog and 1st Tech Set to Take Domain Dispute to Court
  8. ^ http://www.forbes.com/2008/07/30/calvin-ayre-bodog-biz-beltway-cx_jn_wb_0730ayre.html
  9. ^ a b IRS affidavit
  10. ^ Pokernews.com: $24 Million in Bodog Funds Seized - Bodog Responds
  11. ^ Bodog Cuts Jamie Gold from its Poker Team, CardPlayer, (Jan 25, 2007)
  12. ^ WSOP Interview with Matt McCullough

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodog"


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