Calvin Ayre, the force behind the immensely successful online gambling website, Bodog, has reportedly announced his disengagement from the high profile brand.

According to the Vancouver Sun newspaper, the 47-year-old Canadian is said to divide his time between his residences in Vancouver and Antigua. Until recently he resided in a multi-million-dollar estate in Costa Rica.

"It's true, I'm packing it in," Ayre revealed on the Bodog web site Monday.

In an interview from Miami Beach, Florida, Chris Costigan, publisher online gaming site Gambling911.com, is quoted as saying, "I am totally surprised. It's the last thing I would have expected."

"I don't know how somebody could go from being the centre of attention to a recluse," added Costigan. "Whether he can keep that up, I some how doubt it."

Ayre began building his billion-dollar online gambling empire in the late nineties. He introduced his now well-established Bodog brand in 2000.

In the spirit of Richard Branson's Virgin Group as well as Hugh Hefner's Playboy publishing empire, Ayre modelled and promoted his Bodog brand more as a lifestyle than a regular gaming venue. The strategy has thus far worked wonders, to the tune of over $7 billion in wagers from US players alone, and this despite the American government's ban on online poker rooms, casinos, bingo, and sports betting sites in the fall of 2006.
In the same year, Bodog was ranked the world's seventh-largest online gaming organisation.

As are many executives associated with offshore gambling companies, Ayer has avoided setting foot in the United States out of fear of being arrested by federal officials under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

Hardly content with being just another gambling site, Mr. Ayer quickly ventured off into other corporate territories including the music industry, film and martial arts, all of which significantly boosted the volume of traffic to the already popular poker room.

Ayre was also featured on the cover of Forbes magazine's March 2006 issue. The magazine ranked him as being among the 794 billionaires in the world. People magazine also featured him on their list of the 40 hottest bachelors.

But the road to success has certainly been bumpy at times. According to some unconfirmed reports, in 1987 Ayer was implicated in a marijuana bust. Although he was never charged, both his father and brother-in-law were handed lengthy prison terms.

The high-living bachelor was also once involved with a Vancouver-based firm known as Bicer Medical Systems. Ayre admitted to serious stock trading violations in 1996 and subsequently agreed to a twenty-year suspension from the British Columbia securities market.

Always the innovator, whether Calvin Ayer has indeed folded his Bodog hand is a mystery likely to whet the appetites of many gaming industry reporters and analysts. Industry insiders are suggesting that this is just another publicity stunt. In the meantime, Ayre has made known that he transferred ownership of Bodog to the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group last year. The group, located on the Kahnawake Indian reserve outside Montreal, Quebec, hosts hundreds of online gaming companies catering to the gambling desires of players throughout the world.

Still, Costigan is not convinced Ayre is calling it quits. "I think there's some question whether he has separated himself from Bodog. Considering how much he put into building the brand, how involved he's been and how he loves the whole image thing, I cannot see him walking away."