Bodog chief purchases penthouse
MahaNakhon unit priciest in Bangkok
Former online gambling mogul Calvin Ayre paid 400 million baht for a 782-square-metre penthouse in the MahaNakhon building, the most expensive apartment sold in the city to date.
The property, which occupies a whole floor in the building, was paid for using proceeds from Bitcoin Cash exchanged by Mr Ayre in Switzerland. The apartment is being designed by Mr Ayre in conjunction with Bangkok-based design firm Bensley, and will probably be used as the Embassy of Antigua and Barbuda when its finished by the end of the year.
Some 76% of residential units in MahaNakhon have been purchased, says the building’s management.
The former billionaire has been in and out of Bangkok for decades, but has no investment in the country aside from the apartment.
“I purchased a lifetime visa with the Thailand Elite programme a few years ago. Then they asked me to upgrade to the 20-year visa,” he said sarcastically.
Mr Ayre rose to fame and fortune on the back of the success of his online gambling site Bodog. He was barred from conducting gambling operations in the US after he was accused of violating the Illegal Gambling Business Act and of conspiring to commit money laundering. Ultimately he was charged with transmitting wagering information.
Mr Ayre agreed to pay a US$500,000 fine and to never make a claim to the $66 million seized from Bodog’s payment processors. He argued the ruling was unfair and in contravention of international law.
“But I was happy to pay the fine and close that chapter of my life,” he said.
Mr Ayre still acts as brand ambassador of Bodog, which operates in some markets, but he is not directly involved in the operations of the company.
“The company exists in a different form. The only income I receive from gambling is from shares I own in poker. com,” he said.
Mr Ayre declined to comment on his current net worth, but said about half of his assets are in cryptocurrencies. The remainder of his net worth is in technology investments, many of them around Southeast Asia, and real estate.
“I am not in gambling anymore. This is more profitable,” he said.
Mr Ayre began investing in cryptocurrency technology soon after meeting Craig Wright, who once proclaimed himself as Satoshi Nakamoto, the storied creator of bitcoin. Mr Wright is now accused of stealing close to $5 billion in bitcoin from his colleague Dave Kleiman, who was found dead in his own home in 2013.
A large part of his technology investment is directed towards the development of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), an alternative to BTC, what people commonly refer to as bitcoin.
The original bitcoin was “hijacked” for political purposes and stripped of most of its capabilities, he said.
Mr Ayre said BCH will be able to support a terabyte blockchain, which will be capable of holding all human transactions as well as those made by Internet of Things devices.
“All development work is moving over to BCH, but the common investor does not understand the difference between these two coins,” he said.