He chose the appellation like a major corporation would pick the name of a new car or brand of soft drink: it had to have six letters or less, be easy to spell and remember, have some personality and be unlike any competitor's moniker. He came up with it while typing potential brand names into an Internet domain-registration search engine one night. Ĭanadian Business reported 'the Bodog name is part of an ambitious branding strategy that Ayre envisioned from the start. His gambling business was setup in 1996 and was based in Costa Rica. He was able to license his software to several online casinos but soon realized the real money was in running his own gaming operation. Having taught himself network design by studying Cisco Systems manuals, Ayre converted his Vancouver-based Internet incubator company into a software support firm for online gambling, which became Bodog. In 1992, after reading a newspaper article about a Caribbean-based company offering betting services over the telephone, Ayre concluded that gambling was tailor-made for the internet. In 1984, he received a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in general sciences from the University of Waterloo, adding an MBA in management finance from City University of Seattle in 1989. Early life Īyre grew up on a farm outside Lloydminster, Saskatchewan and graduated from high school in Salmon Arm, British Columbia. In August 2017, Ayre was appointed as an Economic Envoy for Antigua and Barbuda to advise on developments in blockchain technology. Despite the Antiguan government's view that the charges against Ayre were “completely contrary to binding international agreements,” in 2017, he pled guilty to a single misdemeanor charge and all other charges against him were dropped. In 2012, Ayre was indicted by the US Attorney for Maryland on charges of illegal gambling and money laundering. Ayre's notoriety increased in the mid-2000s as online gaming's popularity surged, landing him on the cover of Forbes magazine's 2006 annual Billionaires edition and Star magazine's 'Most Eligible Billionaire Bachelors' list in late 2007.

In 2000, Ayre launched online gambling company Bodog, the success of which made him a billionaire. He is the founder of the Ayre Group and Bodog entertainment brand. ( November 2020)Ĭalvin Edward Ayre (born May 25, 1961) is a Canadian- Antiguan entrepreneur based in Antigua and Barbuda. Please help improve this article and add independent sources. This article reads like a press release or a news article and may be largely based on routine coverage.

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