Could Bodog be the first Russian legal online gambling website?

After the spectacular media coverage of the BodogFight last Saturday, and the warm welcome of Calvin Ayre (the owner of Bodog) by the Russian president Vladimir Putin, a question arose among the staff of OGPaper.com - could it be possible for BoDog to extend its empire and include Russia?

Bodog founder Calvin Ayre This is, of course, just a speculation, however, the gambling bill, which would forbid online gambling in Russia, among other forms, has not gone through the full cycle just yet, so we could afford to make that speculation.

The Mixed Martial Arts fight between Russia and US (won by Russia) was attended by the Russian president himself, and among his guests were the former Italian PM Berlusconi and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Following the fight, all participants and VIP guests were invited to a formal dinner at the president's mansion.

Now lets look at some facts. For example, how easy it is to have the president of one of the most powerful countries in the world to attend your fight night. We can imagine that Putin is a very busy man, although he most certainly would enjoy a good fight night, or a good 'ole "Russian beats USA in a sporting event" night, or he could just be showing a good time to his guest - the former prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi.

Which bring us to this speculative question - did Mr. Berlusconi mentioned to president Putin the benefits of a few online gambling licenses issued in the country?

It is also interesting to mention, that although the fight was available on pay-per-view in the US, it's targeted audience was Russia. Why would you brand a name in a country which is about to make online gambling illegal?

And when we checked the Russian WHOIS database we found out that bodog.ru was just registered on March 9th 2007 by Bodog Entertainment Group S.A. and currently forwards to Bodog's main website.

Again, these are all just our own speculations, following the good spirit of the conspiracy theories.

Wouldn't it be great to prove true, though? It would be about time someone start showing to the world, in general, that online gambling is all about entertainment, plus it would open a very big market for some betting companies.

04/19/2007