11 Charged In Web Gambling Crackdown

[shemp]

BetOnSports CEO, Others, Arrested For Conspiracy, Fraud, Racketeering

(CBS/AP) Federal officials on Monday charged 11 people, including the CEO of a big gambling Web site, alleging they committed conspiracy, racketeering and fraud in taking sports bets from U.S. residents.

The Justice Department is seeking the forfeiture of $4.5 billion, cars and computers from the defendants, including BetOnSports PLC and three other companies.

BetOnSports Chief Executive David Carruthers and four other defendants were arrested over the weekend. Carruthers was being prevented from boarding a flight Sunday from Texas to Costa Rica, where the company has operations.

The government, of course, will go to great lengths to portray this as a sleazy, fly-by-night operation that cheats people.

Among those who live abroad is Gary Stephen Kaplan, the founder of BetOnSports, which is incorporated in the United Kingdom and listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Trading of the company's shares was suspended in London on Tuesday. Shares of BetOnSports fell as much as 24 percent Monday following news of Carruthers' arrest, but they recovered to close 17 percent lower at $2.24.

In the fiscal year ending Feb. 5, BetOnSports reported a 65 percent gain in operating profit on continuing operations to $20.1 million. The company said it handled $1.77 billion worth of bets for the year, up 25 percent.

Fly-by-night operations are usually not listed on the London Stock Exchange.

I'm glad that our elected representatives are so strongly standing up for personal choice, personal responsibility and freedom of commerce... NOT!

 

[Lothian]

I’m selling at 6 months.

 

[Molinaro]

It has nothing to do with being fly-by-night, or choice or anything else.

It's against the law in the US to make bets online. The current law only explicitely refers to 'over the phone' betting. However a new bill is before congress to update the wording to explicitely exclude all forms of internet betting as well.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Why is betting illegal? Is it because some sects of Protestantism find gambling sinful? Why is it legal to bet on horse races but not baseball games? Casinos but not websites?

 

[senorpogo]

Why is betting illegal? Is it because some sects of Protestantism find gambling sinful? Why is it legal to bet on horse races but not baseball games? Casinos but not websites?

Because the US Government is stupid.

 

[Rob Lister]

It's against the law in the US to make bets online. The current law only explicitely refers to 'over the phone' betting. However a new bill is before congress to update the wording to explicitely exclude all forms of internet betting as well.

I donno if you're right or wrong but your second and third statements contradict your first.

Oh, I have no horse in this race.

 

[Blank]

"…It's very, very difficult to enforce United (States) law in jurisdictions that don't respect United States statutes," Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, who's leading a push for tougher laws, told CBS News in April.

No [rule 8] Sherlock.. Other countries don't necessarily have the same laws and such. Wanna bust some "drug dealers" and raid the Amsterdam coffee shops that might be catering to U.S tourists?

 

[Charlie Monoxide]

It's against the law in the US to make bets online. The current law only explicitely refers to 'over the phone' betting. However a new bill is before congress to update the wording to explicitely exclude all forms of internet betting as well.

I don't think this is 100% true. When I lived in Reno, Nevada, a local casino had a sign saying that Nevada residents can make sport bets over the phone. Presumably you would initially setup an account and show proof of residency in Nevada.

Charlie (pining to return to Reno) Monoxide

 

[Molinaro]

I donno if you're right or wrong but your second and third statements contradict your first.

Oh, I have no horse in this race.

I knew I should have worded that better.

It is currently illegal to make bets over the phone. It is believed that the current laws would stand up to a challenge, even though they don't specificaly refer to the internet. However, just to be safe new laws are being tabled to bring the wording up to date with existing technologies.

And from the Better Business Bureau (one of many sites that point out the following):

If online gambling is illegal in the United States and Washington State, then why do I see them all over the Internet?
It is not illegal to operate an online or Internet gambling website in countries which permit it and when the people placing those bets are in those countries; it is illegal, however, to solicit bettors from the United States, under the federal Wire Wager Act. Also, people in Washington State who place bets on the Internet can be charged with Professional Gambling in the Third Degree, which is a gross misdemeanor.

I used the phrase "US illegal to place bets online" in google and found many places that refer the federal Wire Wager Act, and the newly tabled "Internet Gambling Prohibition Act".

 

[Luke T.]

What are the odds they will charge 7 more before they charge another 11?

 

[Rob Lister]

Mathmatically, 3 to 1