Reports from iGaming Suppliers and information sites Tuesday indicate that Calvin Ayre’s gaming empire Bodog is laying off 70 employees from its UK operation.
Company officials said that the move is part of a restructuring effort that included layoffs in other parts of the far flung gaming empire. But a report in iGaming Suppliers quotes sources as saying that the layoffs are associated with the failure of the company to secure a British development license.
These quotes however have not been proven yet so it remains just a speculation. But, so far, there’s no indication that the move is anything but what the company says it is; a restructuring based on a business analysis of the UK gaming market.
“In the UK we have undertaken a long period of market analysis and we are now starting to adapt our product to fall in line with those findings,” the company says.
“We feel we now have a better understanding of what the UK customer wants and the focus now is on re-structuring our business to be better placed to put that information into practice.”
This wasn’t the first batch of layoffs in Bodog the expedited closure of the Bodog office in Costa Rica came last month just before the announced restructuring in the UK and Ayre’s indictment along with three Canadian citizens by US officials due to gambling and money laundering charges and the seizure of the dormant Bodog.com domain by the Department of Justice.
A company spokesman said, “A Costa Rican based business process outsourcing company providing services to the Bodog Brand has expedited its closure after fears it will be wrongly associated with the Bodog.com indictments.
“After the brand licensing agreement with the Bodog Brand and Morris Mohawk Gaming was terminated in December 2011, along with ever increasingly restrictive economic conditions in Costa Rica, the BPO had already started to make plans to wind down its operations.”
Although there is no indication that Bodog is struggling financially, 2012 is surely not the best year for the Ayre and the company.
While Ayre has a good shot at beating the charges, getting to not guilty could be a long, expensive venture. He hired a team of lawyers including the legendary New York attorney Barry I. Slotnick, his son Stuart and four other legal all stars from the firm of Buchannan Ingersoll & Rooney PC.
Ayre’s legal representation showed that he was very serious about fighting the charges put against him. Slotnick and company are big dogs and have plenty of experience with high profile cases like Bodog vs. Maryland.
Sports betting affiliates might recall that Slotnick was instrumental in negotiating a deal between Sportingbet and the Department of Justice. Sportingbet settled up gambling charges with the DOJ to the tune of $33 million back in 2010. Under the terms of that deal, the company will be allowed to re-enter the U.S. market should legal online gaming come to pass.
Source: Casino Affiliate Programs
