EnlargeWork, Work, Work: Ayre builds his with Zara Taylor and a gaggle of Chinese models, at the Macau club Cubic. | Photograph by Mark Leong

EnlargeCalvin Ayre and Zara Taylor | Photograph by Mark Leong

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If you were to ask him yourself, that is, if you could find him in Cuba or Antigua or wherever he's fanning himself with a fistful of $100 bills, Calvin Ayre would want you to know that he is not a fugitive, that no matter what the media or the U.S. government thinks of him, he has broken no laws and thus is not in any way an outlaw, or even a scofflaw. He would tell you this with a straight face, or perhaps an indignant one. But, you know, if you happened to hear that Bodog, the Internet-based gambling juggernaut that he birthed and then nurtured in his image, has been operating in violation of U.S. law, and that the 47-year-old Canadian billionaire could be arrested if he set foot on American soil, and that he lives like some sort of fugitive international playboy ... well, that's okay too.

So which is it? Good question. I hoped to find the answer by meeting Ayre in Macau, where, his publicist said, he would be exploring expansion opportunities for his company. It was late February, a mild month on the South China Sea. Like Hong Kong, Macau is a Special Administrative Region of China, and what makes it most special is gambling. If you like Las Vegas but wish it were smokier and more Chinese, then Macau is your place. In 2006, the city surpassed Vegas to become the world's number-one gaming destination, as measured by dollars wagered. And, says Ayre, "it's just lifting off."

Ayre slipped on a pair of wraparound Ray-Bans as he stepped out of a drab office building near the MGM Grand Macau, a tricolored monument to legalized vice that, from a distance, looks like a glass sculpture you might have found in Liberace's foyer. A silver knot dangled from a chain on Ayre's neck, and his shirt collar lay open to reveal a sizable expanse of hairless chest. He wore a diamond-encrusted Cartier watch and a thick, silver ring on his right thumb -- "so I can use my hand in photos and people will know it's me. I learned that from Michael Jackson."

A black Mercedes pulled up and out slinked aspiring actress Zara Taylor, a tall brunette in a tight black dress, designer sunglasses, and 3-inch heels. She kissed Ayre on the cheek in a way that was personal but not intimate. "Feel free to take lots of pictures of her," he said to a photographer. "For your private collection." As he often does, Ayre then laughed at his joke. It's a laugh that comes fast and lingers long, sometimes uncomfortably so.

"I don't actually have a girlfriend," Ayre clarified, as we pointed the Benz toward lunch. (Taylor had been relegated to a second car.) "That's a hassle. It's the same reason you don't pack your car in the suitcase." Translation: Why would you? Have you ever arrived at a destination and found it to be lacking in cars?

Ostensibly, Ayre had come to Macau for the sixth annual Asian i-Gaming Congress and Expo, which was being held at the new Venetian hotel, the second-largest building on earth. The idea was that he would size up the competition, nibble some canapés, and attempt to get a handle on just how Bodog was going to infiltrate the emerging Asian market.