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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Sunday, 03 February 2008
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 Bodog's Billionaire Founder Calvin Ayre is far from the action in Arizona were you would expect him to be hosting a big celebrity filled Super Bowl Party. Instead of walking the red carpets with a legion of Bodog Girls in the desert this weekend, Bodog's brand ambassador has set his sights on conquering Asia. I already knew Calvin was a big fan of Sun Tzu's Art of War and now I know why he recommended I read it a few years back after I finally got a chance to read the book on a recent flight I had overseas.
"Be so subtle that you are invisible. Be so mysterious that you are intangible. Then you shall control your rivals fate." - Sun Tzu
"The reason I like Asian business philosophies is because they fit my brain and I recognize their power," stated Calvin Ayre to Point-Spreads.com in a phone interview this morning before giving us his Super Bowl Pick. "Show me the person who does not think winning wars without fighting battles is a good idea and I will show you someone destined to fail over the long run."
Ayre and the entire Bodog group did not miss a beat when their domain name was hijacked by patent troll Scott Lewis in 2007. Within 12 hours the entire operation was back online and functioning at one hundred percent of capacity. I hope Scott Lewis and his financial backers have deep pockets, the patent trolls and Ayre’s legal team will be in court for years. The case over the control of the Bodog.com domain name is being fought in the state of Washington and the case could help to establish a legal precedence in the intellectual property law as it related to domain names being considered an asset. The outcome will effect tens of thousands if not millions of people worldwide.
“There are partial modifications in almost every operation, and sometimes even a complete change. A hothead who does not know how to change his plan, or is unwilling to change it but acts blindly, will inevitably run his head against a brick wall.” - Sun Tzu
The Bodog Nation is currently in the planning stages of its move East with the official roll out scheduled for 2009. Last year, the Antiguan based private entertainment company opened a Chinese hotline to offer world-class customer service last year and announced it was stepping up its efforts in the market by launching a brand new Chinese web page to assist its increasing number of Chinese customers.
In ancient Chinese culture, the Rat was welcomed as a protector and bringer of material prosperity. It is the first of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. Rat is associated with aggression, wealth, charm, and order, yet also associated with death, war, the occult, pestilence, and atrocities.
“Just as water adapts itself to the conformation on the ground, so in war one must be flexible; he must often adapt his tactics to the enemy situation.” - Sun Tzu
I don't know if Calvin Ayre is a member of the occult, but I have seen the man predict the future on a few occasions and I would consider him clairvoyant at times. Back when all of the big internet gambling operators were going public, Ayre decided to remain private.
"I am more nimble than these guys going public are and I can make decisions quicker without approval from a board of directors," stated Calvin Ayre to me in 2004 on a ride through the hills of the Costa Rican town of Santa Ana in his bullet proof Black Hummer. "Being private I have a competitive advantage over my competition."
Was he ever correct! Shortly there after the United States Congress passed the UIGEA of 2006 wiping out $8 billion in market capitalization for the publicly traded UK listed internet gambling firms like Party Gaming, 888, SportingBet PLC. Bodog was among the last internet gambling operators to use NETeller, instead Ayre built out his own proprietary ecommerce backend, which helped Bodog transition away from the online payment processor much easier than his competition when NETeller was forced out of the market by the Department of Justice.
It was right around that same time that the other internet giants were going public that Ayre purchased the source code and development team of their poker software, which they have since modified into one of the best poker rooms on the internet. Unlike many of their competitors that rely on paying millions in annual licensing fees to gaming software developers, Bodog has always insisted on controlling their own software so that they would not be held hostage by software developers, Ayre’s move into poker made the former pig farmer from Canada a billionaire and the move into Asia will probably make him a billionaire a few times over.
After displaying clairvoyance in my presence on more than one occasion, I figured I would ask Calvin Ayre who his Super Bowl Pick was on between the New England Patriots vs New York Giants.
TJ - I noticed Bodog has the New England Patriots at -11.5 points, who do you like in the game today?
CA - "I have to go with the Patriots, the majority of this team has already got a few rings so they know those are doable...but to be on a team that goes undefeated all season and wins the ring immortalizes them....its been about the record books all year for this team, that is why they ran up some scores earlier in the season and they are hungry for this last one."
TJ - Where are you going to watch the game from?
CA - "I am in Asia launching our planning phase for a operations launch in 2009. I am going to watch the game at a friends of mines condo. It is going to be a long night though as the game goes off at 7:20 Monday morning here. The Super Bowl party will likely start at midnight Sunday." TJ - How is the expansion into Asia going? Did you know its the Year of the Rat?
CA - "Yes I am aware it is the year of the Rat, which means a lot more than it sounds like in Chinese culture. In Chinese Astrology the Year of the Rat produces people who are quick witted and successful financially and business wise. However, we are planning our Asian Launch in 2009, which is the year of the Ox which produces people who are methodical, strong and good leaders. We fully expect to live up to a combination of both these predictions with the launch of a business that is planned in the year of the Rat and launched in the year of the Ox." TJ - What Asia markets will you be looking at going into right away? Which markets will you hold back from entering at launch?
CA - "We don't have our plans in place yet, the planning is just started Feb 1, but there is no trying to hide the 800 pound gorilla in the room. The big market over here is China and the very successful regional Chinese who live outside of China. The new Bodog Asian Regional General Manager has over a decade in this market and has experience in both online sports and casino, which happens to be the two channels that dominate here. We are very happy to have someone of this experience level leading our efforts in this exciting space.”
Find out what Bodog’s Billionaire Calvin Ayre is up to and what he has to say on his blog at CalvinAyreLife.com. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 03 February 2008 )
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Thursday, 31 January 2008
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 A new tax revenue analysis announced by Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA) estimates that regulating Internet gambling would generate between $8.7 billion to $42.8 billion in federal revenues over its first ten years. The findings of the analysis, prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers, were provided to all Members of Congress by McDermott earlier this week.
“Before us is a tremendous opportunity to protect consumers and recoup billions of dollars that should be collected by the Internal Revenue Service,” said Representative McDermott. “These are revenues that are desperately needed, given that we are at war and face difficulty financing the nation’s priorities.”
Representative McDermott introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act (H.R. 2607), which would tax regulated Internet gambling.
“To be clear, these are not mostly new taxes – the bulk of the revenues generated would come from taxes required under existing law,” said McDermott. “This is simply a framework to collect taxes on existing activity that is currently unregulated, unsupervised, and underground.”
The current approach, prohibiting Internet gambling through the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), has proved to be a failure. Notwithstanding the UIGEA prohibition, millions of Americans are still able to gamble online. In addition, proposed rules by the Treasury Department to implement the current prohibitions have been severely criticized by many parties, including the American Bankers Association, Credit Union National Association, Financial Services Roundtable, and other leading financial services companies and groups.
“Instead of this ineffective attempt to prevent adults from gambling over the Internet, we need a more sensible approach to protect consumers and ensure that revenues that now flow offshore stay here in the U.S. and are therefore subject to taxation,” added McDermott. “A new, safer, more sensible approach is needed to regulate Internet gambling and protect consumers.”
McDermott’s legislation functions as a companion bill to the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2046), legislation introduced by Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) which would establish a licensing and enforcement framework for regulated Internet gambling in the U.S. The legislation would allow States to retain full control over the regulation of Internet gambling within their borders, applying additional taxes, protections and limitations as determined necessary and appropriate.
”By prohibiting a popular, recreational activity that many millions enjoy in the comfort of their own homes, the U.S. is forfeiting billions of dollars in revenue needed for critical government programs,” said Jeffrey Sandman, spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative. “It is time for Congress to regulate and tax Internet gambling to ensure security controls are in place to protect consumers and capture billions in revenue.”
To read the McDermott letter, please visit:
http://www.safeandsecureig.org/media/mcdermottfinanceltr.pdf
To read the PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis, please visit:
http://www.safeandsecureig.org/media/taxestimate.pdf |
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Thursday, 31 January 2008
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 The international Internet gambling dispute, potentially valued at billions of dollars, continues. Costa Rica and Antigua separately filed for World Trade Organization (WTO) arbitration on January 28, seeking compensation from the United States as a result of the U.S. withdrawal of its commitment on cross-border internet gambling services. The new arbitration requests could potentially derail the settlement for compensation agreed to late last year by the U.S. and the E.U.
The arbitration filing makes it possible for the E.U. to reconsider its settlement with the U.S. and join the arbitration proceeding, opening up a new phase in the Internet gambling trade dispute.
“The decision by Antigua and Costa Rica to take the United States to arbitration will test the limits of the WTO process and squarely challenge the U.S. resolve to withdraw its GATS commitments,” said Nao Matsukata, formerly Director of Policy Planning for USTR Robert Zoellick and now a Senior Advisor for Alston and Bird LLP. “If the U.S. finds the decision of the WTO arbitrator unacceptable, under procedures outlined in the GATS, it could unilaterally withdraw, creating an unprecedented crisis of confidence in the global trading system. The best solution remains for Congress to pass legislation that would create a legal and regulated framework for online gaming in the United States and for the United States to remain in the GATs schedule to provide all providers legal protection under the WTO.”
U.S. withdrawal from GATS following this new arbitration carries the risk of expensive new sanctions levied against U.S. exports and intellectual property. “If the U.S. withdraws following another adverse arbitral decision, the country would face potential retaliation from all WTO Members affected by the arbitration, a pool of countries including the EU, Canada, and Japan,” added Matsukata. “Inviting sanctions at a time when both the U.S. Administration and Congress are both striving to stimulate an economy on the edge of recession seems foolhardy at best, especially when draft domestic legislation already exists that would create a renewed flow of both business and tax revenues throughout the nation's gaming sectors.”
Lode Van Den Hende, a W.T.O. expert and trade attorney with Herbert Smith in Brussels said, “There is a real possibility that the arbitration body will find that unless the U.S. provides commercially meaningful compensation to Costa Rica and Antigua, it cannot withdraw its commitment on gambling, without risking trade sanctions from the affected parties.”
Costa Rica’s action raises questions about what India and Macao might do as the other nations that have yet to come to terms with the U.S. over the withdrawal of the Article XXI commitment related to cross-border gambling services.
Under the WTO’s GATS Article XXI rules, any country withdrawing its market access must provide compensation to affected countries that maintains a general level of mutually advantageous commitments not less favorable to trade than that provided for in schedules of specific commitments prior to the negotiations. The U.S. negotiated settlements with four of the eight nations seeking compensation - the E.U., Japan, Canada, and Australia, providing compensation, in the form of markets access to U.S. domestic postal services, warehousing, R & D, and technical testing sectors.
Costa Rica, Macao, India and Antigua did not reach an agreement with the U.S. over the withdrawal of its gambling commitment, as the above market sectors offered by the U.S. were of no commercial interest to those countries.
After the WTO ruled that the U.S. had violated trade rules in barring Antiguan online gaming operators from the U.S. market, the U.S. withdrew its WTO obligations with regard to free trade in the gambling area. The U.S. decision to withdraw its market commitments, in order to comply with the WTO, is the first instance of such an action by a WTO member. The action by the U.S. sets a precedent that other WTO members could copy in order to back out of their own commitments once they consider them inconvenient. In turn, the Costa Rican and Antiguan arbitration requests are the first ever in response to a withdrawal of commitments.
It is possible that these arbitration requests will impact the way in which Antigua decides to implement the $21 million per year in trade sanctions it received as compensation for U.S. noncompliance with WTO rulings in the gambling dispute. An option available is for the country to take the compensation in the form of intellectual property waivers.
“It is time for the U.S. to end its hypocritical practices that discriminate against foreign online gambling operators, while allowing U.S. gambling operators to accept bets for certain forms of gambling,” said Jeffrey Sandman, spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative. “Regulation of Internet gambling should be supported as a means to resolve this trade dispute.” |
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Sunday, 27 January 2008
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 After a successful launch in 2007, BetMarkets, the only global sports betting conference, returns to Vienna, Austria from 31 March – 1 April 2008. Recognising the need for a dedicated event, BetMarkets launched last year as the premiere global conference for senior executives in online and land-based sports betting. The 2007 conference gave delegates valuable insight into all facets of the industry and saw incredible attendance figures thanks to the excellent speakers and extensive choice of relevant topics.
BetMarkets 2008 promises to be bigger and better, with quality networking guaranteed and hours of interactive, lively and informative sessions. Delegates will be able to get involved in debates with important industry speakers and gain the essential knowledge needed to create more successful business development and marketing strategies.
Sponsored by BGT (Best Gaming Technology) for a second year, the 2008 conference offers an intensive learning experience, with an impressive list of high calibre speakers already signed up to the event.
Joe Coughlin, Business Development Manager, Gala Coral Group who was a delegate at the 2007 event said: "Sports betting has been mostly ignored by the major conferences, so it’s great to finally see a conference like Bet Markets dedicated to nothing but this important sector."
Extensive research and expertly chosen topics provides a conference schedule offering delegates a forum to discuss how to better develop a profitable sports betting business in an increasingly competitive environment.
BetMarkets also allows delegates to choose the most relevant sessions to attend for their business, as the conference splits into two streams for part of day one. Stream A focuses on how to efficiently develop a successful mobile betting strategy, webstreaming, customer acquisition and retention via Web 2.0 and affiliate marketing. Whereas, Stream B examines profiting from in-play betting, how to enhance profits by creating efficiencies in technology, how the right environment can increase punter activity and offers top tips for creating a successful online offering.
BetMarkets leads the field in internet gambling industry networking opportunities and with a welcome dinner, drinks reception and party organised during the event, delegates can be sure to network and learn in a dynamic environment. |
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Written by Thomas Jensen
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Thursday, 24 January 2008
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 Income Access is blazing a new trail for affiliate toolkit usability with the latest version of their industry-leading affiliate management software. Affiliates and merchants are invited to sample what Income Access has to offer at the upcoming ICE and CAP Euro affiliate marketing conferences in London, England, at the end of January.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada January 24, 2008 - Several months ago, the Income Access team launched plans to raise the bar on affiliates’ and operators’ experiences with the Income Access software. Drawing from Web 2.0’s clean, friendly esthetic elements and its emphasis on easy access to information, Income Access crafted version 3.0 of their software. Income Access has now released a demo of this latest version, with its official unveiling to occur at the ICE and CAP Euro affiliate conferences, running January 21st to 27th, 2008.
“Our main objective with this redesign has been to ensure our software’s appearance and usability reflects the depth and range of its capabilities as a data analysis tool,” says Nicky Senyard, CEO. “By making the design of the software even more intelligent and pleasant to interface with, we’ve aimed to deliver at-your-fingertips access to information for affiliates and merchants alike.”
Just as Web 2.0 is a better version of the Web, version 3.0 of the IA software is a better way to look at reporting for affiliate marketing. The visual elements of the software have been brought out with use of colours and icons that assist users to quickly find what they’re looking for to carry out the tasks that matter most. Pop-ups have also been minimized to streamline navigation. A softer, friendlier feel has transformed the admin, merchant, and affiliate interfaces into a more enjoyable environment to log in to.
Version 3.0 of the Income Access software also lets users exercise more control over their data by experimenting with several new features. The presentation of reports has been fine-tuned to put the most commonly used reports front and centre, and to fit more information on a single page. In addition, affiliates and merchants will notice that their daily tasks are faster and simpler thanks to scrolling within reports and the ability to highlight multiple rows of data for easy viewing of pertinent data.
“Version 3.0 will make it easier than ever before to access the information you need to make marketing and business decisions,” says Nicky Senyard. “We’ve always used our own experience with affiliate marketing and affiliate management to push our software from one release to the next, and this latest release is the perfect example of how this approach really pays off for the end user. With 3.0, the Income Access software is now more adept than ever not only at reporting data, but at intelligently supporting the most vital functions involved in affiliate marketing with perfected usability.”
Affiliates, operators, and merchants are invited to make appointments with Income Access representatives at the upcoming online gambling conferences to see a demo of version 3.0 of the software. Income Access will be at booth 43 at CAP Euro. To prearrange an appointment time for a demo or a chat, please contact
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About Income Access
Uniquely placed in the affiliate marketing arena, Income Access provides the industry with affiliate software, an affiliate network and affiliate management services. Income Access is built from the affiliate marketing perspective for the gaming industry and powers the affiliate programs of leading brands in Europe including renowned international brands Victor Chandler, Jackpotjoy, Lasseters, Sporting Bet Europe, Unibet, Ladbrokes, Dublin Bet, Centre Bet, Wager Profits and Bingo.com. Established in 2002 and based in Montreal, Canada, Income Access is operated by a team of seasoned affiliate marketing professionals in online gaming. Income Access is the online gaming industry's trusted partner. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 24 January 2008 )
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