SportingBet Chairman Next Exec to get Arrested in the US

Filed in archive Betting on September 8, 2006

US authorities have once again arrested a British online betting executive - this time its Peter Dicks, the chairman of online gambling giant, Sportingbet.com.

Not content with nabbing David Carruthers, many online gambling folk thought it was the company the US was targeting - but this arrest has proven the US are now trying to prove a point - that they have the power to show that online gambling is, well...not quite legal...maybe.

Actually, the US have taken the obvious option - going for online sportsbooks that take phonebets - something that is illegal under the wire act. And this second arrest has happened just before as the NFL starts in the US - a time in which the online sites can see millions of dollars being bet.

Peter Dicks was arrested at JFK airport in New York on a flight from London. Louisiana State had issued a warrant for online gambling - one of only eight states that have actually outlawed online betting - (and please, stop sniggering at that 'oh so clean and upstanding' state that is Louisiana politics doing its best to clean the world of online betting). Dicks could face a fine and up to 5 years in prison. He's since been given bail of $50,000.

In the meantime, I can see a minor transatlantic tiff occuring between the US and the UK if the US keeps nabbing executives of public companies.

The moral of the story is - if you're an executive and work in the online sportsbetting industry - perhaps its best to avoid the US for a while - there are many other more accommodating and inviting countries in the world where you don't get arrested.

Article: Arrest adds pressure on Internet gaming