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13 Mar 2006 |
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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, March 13, 2006
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Canadian Billionaire's
Mansion Raided
Local authorities raided Canadian online gaming magnate Calvin Ayre's Santa Ana mansion, west of San José, Friday night for a suspected violation of Costa Rica 's gaming law.
(Click for more)
Liberation Celebrates Arias' Victory
Thousands of National Liberation Party (PLN) members celebrated the party's official victory Friday night following a month of uncertainty over the results of the Feb. 5 presidential election, according to the daily La Nación.
(Click for more)
President of U.S. Galaxy
Soccer Team Dies on
Flight from Costa Rica
The U.S. Galaxy soccer team Friday suspended its pre-season activities in Costa Rica to return to the United States and support the family of Doug Hamilton, the team's president who died of a heart attack Thursday on a flight from San José to Los Angeles.
(Click for more)
March 13
International Fruit Festival, exhibits, fruit and vegetable sales, lectures, rides, concerts, food, crafts, sorts with Brazil, Poland and other countries, March 9-20, Orotina, northwest of San José, Info: 428-0080.
Multisensory Coffee Exhibit, replicas of boletos de café (former currency of C.R.), coffee grains and plants, through March 31, Museum of Forms, Spaces and Sounds, San José, Info: 222-9462.
Javier Marín, sculpture, through April 28, National Gallery, Children's Museum, San José, Info: 258-4929.
Edited By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
Canadian Billionaire's Mansion Raided
By María Gabriela Díaz
Tico Times Staff
mgdiaz@ticotimes.net
Local authorities raided Canadian online gaming magnate Calvin Ayre's Santa Ana mansion, west of San José, Friday night for a suspected violation of Costa Rica 's gaming law.
Ayre, ranked number 746 in Forbes Magazine's listing of the world's richest people, has amassed a fortune of $1 billion through his company, Bodog Entertainment Group, according to Forbes Magazine.
Police raided the 44-year-old bachelor's home in Santa Ana's exclusive Valle del Sol residential area while a crowd of some 100 people, speckled with models and celebrities, prepared for a party for a six-part reality series about Ayre's lifestyle shot last week for the U.S. TV channel Fox Sports, Ayre told local and international journalists at a press conference Saturday.
An article published last week by the daily Al Día suggesting that Ayre was hosting poker gambling at his home prompted the raid, during which police seized two computers, several guns and arrested five Canadian citizens for immigration reasons.
Costa Rica 's gaming law, which dates back to the 1920s establishes that government institutions must regulate gaming in the country, Ayre's lawyer, Gloria Navas explained.
Ayre, who referred to the foray as a “little misunderstanding” and “one little bump” in his dealings in Costa Rica, denied that any real gambling was taking place at his home.
A simulated poker tournament, with a grand prize of $500,000 from Ayre's personal accounts, was staged last week for the Fox Sports reality series, during which no gambling scenes were shot at the billionaire's home, he and Navas said at the press conference.
The five arrested Canadians who held the guns confiscated by police were merely posing as Ayre's bodyguards for the reality show, Navas said. They have already been released, according to Channel 6 News.
Ayre, who comes from a family of grain and pig farmers in Canada, draws 95% of his sales from the United States, home to most of his 16 million customers, according to Forbes Magazine.
U.S. law prohibits the use of communication devices, such as the Internet, to take bets. But because Ayres is not a U.S. citizen, operates his business overseas and has no assets in the United States, he has so far managed to avoid the U.S. Department of Justice, Forbes reported.
The magnate must present himself at the Prosecutor's Office next Wednesday to make an official declaration, according to his lawyer.
Liberation Celebrates Arias' Victory
Thousands of National Liberation Party (PLN) members celebrated the party's official victory Friday night following a month of uncertainty over the results of the Feb. 5 presidential election, according to the daily La Nación.
Approximately 1,000 supporters stood outside of San José 's Balcón Verde, where Liberation held a party inside to celebrate Arias' win declared by the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) March 7 (TT, March 10).
After the historically close election, the Tribunal waited until officials completed the manual recount and resolved all complaints of irregularities to declare Arias' victory over Citizen Action Party (PAC) candidate Ottón Solís in this historically close race.
On Friday Arias also received a congratulatory phone call from U.S. President George W. Bush, who asked him to expedite approval of the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).
Arias, a former President from 1986-1990 and Nobel Peace Prize winner, told reporters Bush thinks Costa Rica is “losing time” by not approving CAFTA. During their conversation, Bush also stressed the importance of Arias strengthening democracy in Latin America.
Arias said it is important that Costa Rica adopt CAFTA and that failing to do so would result in lower sales in the textile industry which would “eliminate jobs and throw employees onto the streets.”
-Tico Times with ACAN-EFE reports
President of U.S. Galaxy Soccer Team
Dies on Flight from Costa Rica
The U.S. Galaxy soccer team Friday suspended its pre-season activities in Costa Rica to return to the United States and support the family of Doug Hamilton, the team's president who died of a heart attack Thursday on a flight from San José to Los Angeles.
“For the respect of our president and his family we're going to return today and try to bring back the body of our president as soon as possible,” Galaxy coach Steve Sampson told Channel 7.
Hamilton 's death was reported by the staff of TACA airlines, on which he traveled Thursday night to Los Angeles. His body was transported to a morgue in Costa Rica.
Hamilton began to experience pain 45 minutes into the flight, and the pilot decided to return to Juan Santamaría International Airport, northwest of San José.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman said the embassy is in contact with Hamilton 's family, but did not offer more details for reasons of confidentiality.
Galaxy was in Costa Rica last Wednesday playing a game against the local Saprissa team as part of the finals of the Champion's Cup of the Confederation of North and Central American and Caribbean Soccer Associations (CONCACAF).
The team later traveled to Playa Tamarindo, on the northwestern Pacific coast, to finish its pre-season games, and Hamilton was scheduled to return to the United States Thursday.
Galaxy players and their coach told the Costa Rican press they were “impacted” and “sad” for the death of their president, calling him a “great man” who always worried about the well-being of the team.
-ACAN-EFE
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