Malta Writer Uncovers Bodog Scandal: 1

An online new source based out of Malta, The Malta Independent Online, recently relased an article about the fall of the Bodog empire and the man behind it, Calvin Ayre. The reason why this story is so interesting is not because it is extremely newsworthy, but it includes some very interesting details from the methods used by the Mediterranean company to get payments to its players. Ayre and Bodog have been under the investigation of the United States government ever since the passing of the anti online casino act, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006. The US Department of Internal Revenue Services has seized over $24 million from the company by way of US banks due to illegal payment from their online casinos.

The Malta based newspaper, reviewed all of the facts with its own reporter and the author of the article, David Lindsay, spent the entirety of the article recapping all of the events that lead the online casino down this path and what the United States government is doing about their actions. According to the article, the online casino’s customer base was primarily from the United States. The problem that the United States Government had with the online casinos of Bodog is that they continued paying out to American customers even after several warnings. Lindsay wrote: "The scheme involves a foreign payment processor wiring funds for US winnings to an American money processor, which, in turn, distributes winnings by cheque or electronic payment to winners with no indication that the money involved was the proceeds of Internet gambling. According to court filings presented as part of the IRS investigation into the Bodog internet gambling empire, which takes in some $6 billion in bets a year, at least one of the several Malta-based companies owned by Bodog has played a central role in processing such illegal gambling payouts."

The author continues his article on the online casino scandal by naming the company Stratham Finance, which is based out of Malta as well, which is the company that Calvin Ayre is the sole shareholder of and is also acting director of. Lindsay said of the US legal battles from the online casinos: “"Among the raft of evidence presented by the IRS, an unnamed “cooperating individual” – a certain highly placed person at MPS Processing Ltd located in the United Kingdom – gave evidence to the effect that the company he worked for was processing payouts on behalf of Bodog, and that Stratham Finance was the financing company for Bodog.” He then added: "Moreover, the individual revealed that MPS Processing had received funds from the Ta’ Xbiex-based (Malta) Stratham Finance, which would then be transferred to an American money processing company. The US company would then, according to court filings, print and mail payout cheques as directed by invoice from Stratham."