Baines’ latest screed is all about praising the United States’ recent legal actions against online poker companies, and damning the lack of a similar witch hunt by Canadian authorities. He says this despite the fact that none of the international online gambling operators cited in his column are breaking any Canadian laws by allowing Canadian bettors to open accounts. Then again, as someone who recently had to fork over $30k in damages for coming out on the wrong end of a libel suit, Baines clearly isn’t one to let facts get in the way of a good rant.
Calling his fellow countrymen ‘patsies’ for preferring options beyond the provincial monopoly providers, Baines chastises the Canadian government for its willingness to “abdicate responsibility for domestic commerce of any kind to a foreign jurisdiction” such as the UK. Although the UK is widely recognized as the preeminent online gambling licensing jurisdiction, Baines prefers the British Columbia model, in which one branch of government regulates another branch of government. Or, viewed from another perspective, one hand washing the other.
Baines is a staunch apologist for British Columbia’s gaming gurus, downplaying the suggestion that a government increasingly dependent on gaming revenues has a disincentive to do anything that might slow that money train. This has led to advertising that the watchdogs in London would never tolerate, habitual non-compliance with financial transaction guidelines and a failure to protect online players’ privacy. As a York University professor observed, the BC government has “no reason to give a damn. Like everyone else, they’re in the business to make money.”
Anyway, back to Baines’ rant, which (as always) finds a way to bring both Calvin Ayre and Bodog to the fore. Baines accuses Calvin of ‘promoting’ the Bodog.ca site in Canada, despite Calvin having never done any such thing. Baines can’t quite seem to grasp the fact that Calvin gave up running an online gambling company years ago. It’s like Baines is one of those Japanese soldiers that escaped into the jungle on Guadalcanal and thought World War II was still going on thirty years after the fact.
At the risk of boring everyone but Baines, the Bodog.ca site is operated by the UK licensees of the Bodog brand. Contacted for their reaction to Baines’ article, a Bodog Europe spokesperson said they actually have a good relationship with the paper for which Baines writes, and despite the obvious inaccuracies in his articles, they would nonetheless like to thank Baines for continuing to help promote the popular Bodog.ca site in Canada.
And we at CalvinAyre.com would like to thank Baines for continuing to provide ourselves and the greater online gaming community with some good laughs. But Calvin would prefer it if you stopped submitting your daily Facebook friend requests. Seriously, David… No means no.
