Bodog franchisee blocks some U.S. states

The recent US federal indictment against Bodog brand franchiser Calvin Ayre, and the seizure of the defunct Bodog.com domain by US officials were widely thought to have little impact on the international operations of the online casino entrepreneur, but on Wednesday internet poker players started posting message board comments about new Bovada.lv site restrictions.

US-facing Bovada.lv – an erstwhile Bodog franchisee – took over where Bodog left off in the States, offering online gambling to Americans despite the pressure of being hounded (no pun intended) by the over-zealous US enforcement establishment.

Players on several message boards reported that, without any prior warning, they were met by the following notification when they accessed their Bovada accounts:

“Bovada has suspended transfers from residents of the following States: Maryland, Washington, New York and Utah. If you are a Bovada customer from one of the above states, you will not be able to use your MyPayLinque account to transfer. Please contact support at Bovada for further information.”

In the absence of a statement from Bovada, the news inevitably triggered speculation that Bovada is steering clear of states that have become notorious for hardline enforcement approaches to online gambling and strict laws, but at present that remains conjecture rather than fact.

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