Bodog, one of the most popular online casino and  poker room companies, has been having a roller coaster ride over the last few months.  They recently held a $250,000 guarantee online poker tournament that was a huge success and the largest in history, and then announced that a second poker open would be held with the Main Event being on October 5.  But Bodog is having some serious problems, many of which has stemmed from the company losing the rights to its original domain name of Bodog.com.  They have relocated to BodogLife.com, but according to a source within the company, the online poker room is operating with little more than a skeleton crew.

Found in 1994 by Calvin Ayre and located in Antigua, the online group became a household name, right along with its owner.  Ayre didn’t hide his opinion about the American government’s ban on online poker which may have caused him some of the problems he faced.  He sold Bodog to Morris Mohawk Gaming Group of Kahnawake, Quebec, leaving them with the rights to service the company throughout North America.  Ayre completely left the business.

Bodog lost the domain rights in August 2007 and it moved first to NewBodog.com and finally settled at BodogLife.com.  The new company moved from Vancouver to Montreal and lost many of their employees who did not want to make the move, basically causing the company to turn over.  Additionally, they have lain off close to 250 employees through all levels of the company, bringing the number of staff down to 100.  It has suspended all of its advertising campaigns.

The company also owns and operates a music level that includes performers DMX, Wu-Tang Clan, and Neurosonic.  The casino, sports book, and poker rooms have the sibling Fantasy.Bodoglife.com which hosts games for the 17 week NFL football season.  The inside source claims that Bodog may find its future relying on the revenue during the football season to get them through until the company gets new staff.

Between the UIGEA laws that would make Bodog illegal in the United States because of their sports book activities, and the money that was seized from four major U.S. banks that supposedly belonged to Bodog’s payment processors, the company could be in serious trouble.  Bodog denies that the money was theirs, but they are now dealing with complaints of slow payments and customers backing their money out.  Could the final days of Bodog be looming?  Time will only tell.