A 2015 video, reviewed by Reuters, shows Wright being interviewed by three ATO officials. Wright is clad in a waistcoat and tie, fielding questions about his complex businesses and claims for tax breaks. At one point he is quizzed about his work for Bodog, the online gambling network set up by Ayre. Wright clams up and says he cannot disclose any details because of “contractual obligations.”
The ATO declined to comment on Wright, saying that its investigation into him was continuing.
A person close to Wright told Reuters that Wright began working for Bodog in 2010. Ayre had set up Bodog in the 1990s. It expanded into entertainment and proved so lucrative that Ayre featured in the 2006 “billionaires” issue of Forbes magazine.
Ayre chose to base his gambling business in Costa Rica. But much of its revenue came from players in the United States, where online gambling was and is illegal in many states. In February 2012, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland indicted Bodog, Ayre and four other people (Wright not among them) for allegedly conducting an illegal gambling business between 2005 and 2012. They were also indicted for moving funds from overseas to pay winnings to gamblers in the United States.
