Police Raid Home of Bodog.com CEO

Friday night, during a wrap party for a poker “reality” show, about 100 police officers raided the San Jose, Costa Rica mansion of Bodog.com CEO Calvin Ayre. The authorities supposedly interrupted the party at the $3.5 million estate looking for an illegal poker game. No, 100 officers raiding a poker game isn’t overkill at all.

Turned out, there was no illegal poker going on, nor was there an illegal prostitution ring, something else that was reported to police. In the four hour raid, police seized computers and files related to the television show, but Ayre was not arrested. Several members of his security team were detained, however, on immigration-related charges. Ayre and his guards are Canadian, and it is illegal for foreign nationals to provide security in Costa Rica.

Ayre was recently on the cover of Forbes magazine’s recent issue listing the world’s billionaires. Ayre told Forbes, “Being on the cover of Forbes stirred up a major storm down here. The local newspapers sensationalized the story (after it was published Thursday night), and apparently within a few hours the local bureaucrats decided to come after me.”

Originally published March 13, 2006