Intrernet Gambling BE CAREFUL

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LONDON (Reuters) - David Carruthers, chief executive of online gaming group BETonSPORTS, has been detained by U.S. authorities while changing planes, the company said on Monday, sending the shares down more than 20 percent.

The board are currently seeking clarification as to the basis of the detention." it added.

A spokeswoman for BETonSPORTS, which runs a large part of its operation from the Costa Rican capital, said the incident happened on Sunday night when Carruthers was on his way to San Jose, but could give no further details.

Shares in the firm were 23 percent lower at 114 pence by 0930 GMT on Monday, valuing the business at around 105 million pounds ($193.3 million) .

The fall sparked concerns that the detention could be industry related, dragging down a raft of other Internet betting companies including FTSE 100 share PartyGaming which lost as much as 11.5 percent, Midcap 250 stock 888 Holdings and Austria's betandwin which also tumbled 11 percent.

Last week Carruthers told Reuters he thought that a U.S. Republican-written, House of Representatives-approved bill to crack down on Internet gambling by banning banks and credit card companies from processing the payments was bound to fail due to the mountainous backlog of other U.S. legislation

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as soon as they can tax it everything will be fine.... Until then hopefully big payoffs will be fine but beware. Consolidated Freightways a huge trucking firm owes me a ton but because of bankruptcy I'm hoping to get 40 cents o the dolllar. IRS gets their's first and 100%. Reverse that and bankruptcies would be illegal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hoovesupsideyourhead]

i went to the fire sale on c f..not pretty..they should have worked it out...

[SCUDSBROTHER]

Pretty stupid of this guy to set foot in the country.Pretty stupid of us to have a religious Texan for President too.We deserve all this.Next time,get somebody who is more moderate on the moral stuff.He has turned the Dept. of Justice into the morality police.A new low.

[SCUDSBROTHER]

I'll tell ya what.When my folks die,that's it.Either moving to Vegas,or another country.Tired of one group of Americans constantly dictating how other Americans are going to live their own life.

[kentuckyrosesinmay]

Originally Posted by SCUDSBROTHER

I'll tell ya what.When my folks die,that's it.Either moving to Vegas,or another country.Tired of one group of Americans constantly dictating how other Americans are going to live their own life.

I'm beginning to look at it that way too. I think the US government is really beginning to turn this country into a dictatorship where they rule. There is so much curruption within it right now that it is very sad and unfortunate for truely "good, moral" people. Most of these government officials have nothing on their minds but personal gain. Until we can get some people in office who truely care, the United States will continue its downward spiral until it collapses. I have no doubt of that. It seems like it has been getting consistently worse for quite some time now.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by kentuckyrosesinmay

I'm beginning to look at it that way too. I think the US government is really beginning to turn this country into a dictatorship where they rule. There is so much curruption within it right now that it is very sad and unfortunate for truely "good, moral" people. Most of these government officials have nothing on their minds but personal gain. Until we can get some people in office who truely care, the United States will continue its downward spiral until it collapses. I have no doubt of that. It seems like it has been getting consistently worse for quite some time now.

that's just it, the powers to be right now think they are the good moral people. problem is, they want to shove their morals down everyone else's throat.
it's ridiculous that 'big brother' has to tell us whats GOOD for us. why should they give a rats behind whether i gamble or not? i pay taxes on my income, what i do with it after that is no one's business!

but then, consider the fact that many in govt base a large portion of their foreign policy on what the bible says.

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FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- One day after federal officials announced indictments of operators of an offshore Internet gambling site, there were signs of how difficult it will be to prosecute the case.

A federal judge on Monday issued an order barring BetOnSports PLC from taking bets by U.S. residents. But on Tuesday the site appeared to be operating normally, offering bets on Major League baseball and season-opening college football games.

The company's founder, Gary Stephen Kaplan, the biggest target in the indictment, was somewhere in Costa Rica. He had nothing to say about the case, according to a spokesman.

Trading of the company's shares was suspended in London on Tuesday. They fell as much as 24 percent Monday following news that the company's chief executive, David Carruthers, had been arrested and closed down 17 percent at 122.50 pence ($2.24).




In the fiscal year ended 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.

On Monday, federal officials unsealed a 22-count indictment that charges 11 people and four companies with conspiracy, racketeering and wire fraud in taking sports bets from U.S. residents. Authorities said BetOnSports falsely claimed that Internet and phone wagering on sporting events was legal and licensed.

Five of the 11 individuals were arrested, including Carruthers, who remained in custody in Fort Worth pending a detention hearing on Friday. Carruthers was arrested Sunday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as he waited for a connecting flight to Costa Rica.

The Justice Department is seeking the forfeiture of $4.5 billion, plus several cars, recreational vehicles and computers from the defendants. Prosecutors convinced a federal judge in St. Louis to order BetOnSports to stop accepting bets placed from within the United States.

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A company spokesman, Kevin Smith, declined to say Tuesday whether any bets were being turned down.

"We are still in a holding pattern," Smith said. "Our attorneys are mulling over all the information and deciding the next legal step."

Legal experts and those who follow the online gambling industry said it was unclear what would happen if BetOnSports defies the judge's order to stop taking U.S. bets. Americans accounted for virtually all of the company's business until recently, when it began aggressively courting bettors in Asia.

If the company continues to take Americans' bets, federal officials could respond by pressuring the governments of the United Kingdom, where BetOnSports is incorporated, and Costa Rica, its major base of operations.

But such appeals might not work, especially in Costa Rica, which has become a haven for Caribbean online sports books and casinos in the past decade because of its light approach to regulation, experts said.

"There are probably at least 140 sports books operating down there. Those are a ton of jobs," said Sue Schneider, president of a suburban St. Louis firm that tracks the industry.

About 2,000 people work at BetOnSports' offices in San Jose, Costa Rica, according to a local newspaper.

Even if BetOnSports were shut down, there are plenty of sites to take its place. Some online sports books might stop taking bets from U.S. residents, but only if the United States is a small part of their business, Schneider predicted.

The indictment is likely to have even less effect on online casinos - those that take bets on poker or other games, but not on sporting events.

In the past decade, federal officials have prosecuted many operators of online sports books with U.S. ownership or operations because federal law prohibits using phone wires to place those bets, said Anthony N. Cabot, a Las Vegas lawyer who has represented traditional and online casinos.

In a celebrated case from 2000, prosecutors won a conviction against Jay Cohen, a U.S. citizen who ran an operation in Antigua that took sports bets from Americans over the Internet. He was sentenced to 21 months in prison.

But the wire law doesn't cover other types of casino betting, a federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled. That has left some doubt about whether prosecutors can shut down poker and other casino games that target American players, Cabot said.

And unless the operators set foot in the United States - as Carruthers and Cohen did - it's difficult to extradict them, Cabot said.

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Associated Press writer Marianela Jimenez in San Jose, Costa Rica, contributed to this report.