Calvin Ayre’s Media Moments
As we approach CalvinAyre.com’s official one-year anniversary and the Seven Deadly Sins party at the iGaming Super Show, we’ve had a look at some of the great moments in the life of our site’s namesake Calvin Ayre. As you’re all well aware, before becoming a media mogul, Calvin was (and continues to be) sought after by media organizations around the world for an entertaining quote. We thought we’d have a look back at some of the big boss’ best media moments.
Whoa, that sounds dangerous!
Before revealing himself, er, revealing his identity to the world, Calvin’s alter ego Cole Turner got all the publicity. Cole’s swashbuckling antics were followed closing by the iGaming industry sites but one adventure in particular left fans on the edge of their seats. On a river run through the jungles of Cambodia, Cole was taken hostage by some sexy Khmer Rouge operatives. Until this moment, Cole’s exploits had been somewhat believable, but this was a little (okay, a lot) over the top. The fans started to realize that Cole was more Character than CEO. As nutty as the hostage story was, customers called customer service daily to learn the status of the CEO who scoffed at danger.
Smoke’em if you got’em
As the online gaming industry grew at an incredible pace, the mainstream media started sniffing around for a good story. In a great article from the February 2004 issue of Cigar Aficionado, writer Michael Kaplan took a look at the then burgeoning industry. Calvin/Cole was featured alongside the old school players of BetCRIS and others. The article highlights Calvin’s dedication to branding and marketing that enabled him to rise above the traditional bookmakers. Hindsight is always 20/20 but when you read this piece, you’ll see Calvin’s vision of the future is pretty damn close to how the future ultimately came to be.
You should have killed me when you had the chance
While the battle wasn’t exactly Ali-Frazier, Calvin finally killed off Cole Turner in a succession duel. He then revealed his true self to the world with the intention of becoming the face of a previously faceless industry. Using that profile to serve the Bodog brand, he ensured that when the media thought about online gambling, they thought about Calvin and when they thought about Calvin, they thought about Bodog.
Are you not entertained?!
Calvin has always viewed gambling as entertainment and Bodog as an entertainment company. With that in mind, 
Calvin expanded his company beyond gambling into other forms of entertainment. Thus was born Bodog Music, Bodog TV and Bodog Fight under the Bodog Entertainment banner. Plenty of media moments came out of the Bodog Entertainment era; I rather enjoyed “Bodog Salutes the Troops”. Bodog Salutes the Troops was a charity poker event and concert that featured Snoop Dogg and a ton of other great acts where the money raised would go to Fisher House. Fisher House provided free or low cost house to US military Veterans.
This was of course before the dreaded UIGEA, back when online gambling companies could sponsor charity event in the US. Check out this highlight pack from Bodog Nation.
Is this real enough for you?
In 2006, televised poker was getting hot and reality TV was peaking, so Calvin combined the two with Calvin Ayre Wildcard Poker. The tournament was set in Costa Rica, featuring the hottest poker players and some of the coolest film and TV stars as well as popular athletes. UFC Champion Chuck Liddell, Curb Your Enthusiasm co-star Cheryl Hines, Willa Ford and other celebs joined a slew of poker pros for the event, which was ultimately won by poker pro Josh Arieh.
The show was great but the real media moment came when the Costa Rica police decided to raid the wrap party at the Bodog Compound, on the false assumption that an illegal poker tournament was taking place inside. But since the actual poker had already been filmed at a TV studio in San Jose, the 75 Costa Rica cops that surrounded the compound ultimately tucked their tails between their legs and beat an embarrassing retreat. But the story had already hit the news wire, and the headline “Calvin Ayre Arrested” ended up splashed across newspapers and websites across the globe. It wasn’t true, but it did prime the pump for Calvin’s next big headline.
Yes, it’s spelled with a B
While the gaming world was buzzing over the raid on the Bodog Compound, the rest of the world was readying itself for the release of the 2006 Forbes Billionaires issue. The two events combined to create a perfect storm of publicity for Calvin Ayre.
The media dubbed Calvin the bad boy billionaire and the Bodog lifestyle had crossed into the mainstream. While Calvin never said, “Catch me if you can…” the headline did more to burnish his bad boy image than anything else said or written about him.
Who says that? People
Calvin’s always been a popular fellow with the ladies but soon after the Forbes Billionaire issue, People Magazine came calling to put the bad boy billionaire in their Most Eligible Bachelors issue. Good looks – Check; Enjoys a good time – Check; Enough money to fly a girl to Italy for wine and pizza – Check. Yeah, it makes sense.
During the peak of the Bad Boy Billionaire era, Calvin was everywhere. The Bodog Compound had a guest spot on MTV Cribs. Not to be outdone, VH1 featured Calvin in an episode of the Fab Life and he was all over industry media as Bodog’s Billionaire. Calvin was a feature story on ABC’s Nightlight and the CBS evening news.
Taking Care of your own
The online gaming industry media is usually kind to their own, providing that the people in question are doing what’s best for the entire gaming industry. The folks over at Card Player Magazine did an excellent feature on Calvin as their cover boy, “Poker’s Lifestyle Architect”
Michael Jordan did it first
Like Michael Jordan, Calvin retired at the top of his game. Even after he made his retirement announcement, the media still came looking for their piece of the bad boy billionaire. It was a little different though as the focus of the articles were on why he walked away. As we now know, he couldn’t sit on the sidelines for too long and the articles weren’t so much a good bye but an “I’ll see you later.” This Fast Company article entitled “Last Call” follows the moments leading up to and immediately following Calvin’s retirement from the industry.
Preeminent Canadian Business writer Dianne Francis thought so much of Ayre before his retirement that despite his exit from the business, she still included him in her book “Who Owns Canada Now” and featured Ayre in a National Post interview.
You can’t keep me away
Traveling the world, gamblin’, drinkin’ and carryin’ on with beautiful women has to get tiresome eventually…right? Never one to sit around, Calvin saw a void in the online gaming news realm and filled it with CalvinAyre.com. It was at the launch party for CalvinAyre.com that Calvin was profiled in a fantastic piece for Playboy. The article discussed hypocrisy and gambling in the US market – the theme of the article sounds strangely familiar. Check out the full Playboy article.
These are just a few of our favorite Calvin Ayre media moments, but as we begin our second year of reporting on the gambling world here CalvinAyre.com, I’m confident there are many more entertaining and informative moments have yet to be written.
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