More about the Bodog advertising issue
25.04.2005The report opines that Esquire publisher Kevin O'Malley may be getting caught in the crosshairs of a federal investigation into illegal offshore-gambling operations and claims that the authorities are not happy that Esquire had run five pages of ads for online gambling casino Bodog.com in the April issue.
Another insert in the June issue started printing Saturday.
A Media Link source said that Hearst executives might be ready to pull the ad and replace it with public service spots as a result of unspecified pressure from the federal authorities.
The source reveals that something like a million US dollars had been committed to the advertising by Bodog.
Under U.S. law, the government claims the ability to regulate ads by insisting that solicitation of gambling from overseas via advertising in magazines, TV or other medium is illegal under the Interstate Telephone Act of 1964.
In the Esquire ads that ran in April, there is the disclaimer "Void where prohibited by law. Fully licensed in Costa Rica" in small type.
Media Link reports that following a visit to the magazine by FBI agents at least a half dozen staffers received subpoenas, and O'Malley was summoned to Hearst CEO Victor Ganzi's office. Hearst is the parent group of Esquire.
Last year, there was a flurry of online, offshore gambling casino ads in Maxim, Outside, Men's Journal and elsewhere.
Most of these publishers dropped the ads after getting stern letters from the Justice Department warning them that the ads were violating federal laws.
