CEO arrest - should gambling online be legal ?
 

CEO arrest - should gambling online be legal ?



NO BAIL FOR CARRUTHERS

BetonSports executive is regarded as a "flight risk" say American officials
Trading in shares of online gaming company BetonSports
A growing number of industry people are concerned at the harsh manner in which U.S. officials have treated a respectable British businessman following his arrest last weekend at Dallas airport whilst transiting the U.S.A.

David Carruthers, the CEO of the BetOnSports group and an outspoken critic of American political attempts to ban online gambling, was arrested and held incommunicado on a sealed indictment naming 11 persons for a range of 22 alleged offences under American law. He was held overnight in the local county jail, appeared briefly the next day in handcuffs in a federal district court and was committed to custody without bail for several days pending a further hearing.

http://www.online-casinos.com/news/news2532.asp



:Oh crap

It currently is not and this guy is fucked.

what he says.
If you play with fire you will get burned.

this is why they are fucking with him most. you talk shit, the hammer comes down on you. :(

what the fuck USA do here, intercept LEGAL UK citizen and throw it in jail when he is switching airplane...

His job just happens to be related to online gambling.. but the reason why he was arrested is tax fraud and other illegal stuff.

Sorry, he was importing gambling to US citizens. He knew he was doing it against the law. I would love to promote gambling. But I think he knew the risks.

no suprise

I dont get it , UK citizen with a UK company doing nothing against the UK law ? ? how in earth can the US think it is their job to arrest him ?

if he has defrauded the US in any way , cool , arrest the motherfucker

the US = China ?



I dont like US laws and decide to make that public knowledge the US arrest me ? ? wel mao ming me !

people should be able to do that they want with their own money.

people should be able to do that they want with their own money.

He was a dumb-ass for stepping foot on US soil. :2 cents:

It's sad that this is supposed to be the free and tolerant USsA.
That sentence used to read
"he was a dumb-ass for stepping on Chinese soil.":(

It should be legal. This guy will walk, my 2 cent.

Yes it should be legal thus taxable. It?s a 12+ billion dollar a year industry? lots of tax mullah.

damn , that's dramatic insane........

maybe his citizonship with usa expired.

People should be allowed to do what they want, how they want, when they want, as long as that action doesn't negatively affect others.

But...it'll take some apocalyptic shit to get that point across.

from what I could see on businessweek its a bit more ... "U.S. Americans are by far the biggest online gamblers, betting a massive $145 billion over the Internet in 2005

betting and gambling will never stop so why not tax it instead?

nice to see the USA still thinking their laws apply to acts not committed on their soil.

SEO Black Hat had a great post on this topic, check it out:

http://seoblackhat.com/2006/07/18/bet-on-sports-sportsbook-ceo-arrest-commentary/

My favorite bit:

People sometimes complain about companies like Yahoo and Google and their buckling to Chinese Law. In fact, online gambling is legal and regulated in the UK and in Costa Rica where these sports books operate. But the US has no problems arresting forign citizens who have committed no crime on US soil and were in fact operating legitimate business in thier home countries. There is no difference between what the US did and you getting arrested on a flight layover in China for for publishing something about democracy on your website.

Not accurate. David Caruthers does not have any business interests in the US - nor does he owe funds in taxes to the US.

He was never a US citizen.

if he is wanted, and in the US, he is fair game.


Anyone know of the British government is doing anything to get him released?

One way of other he'll walk Degenerate - even after he may be convicted in a US court.

There are too many issues underlying this - not just from the gaming industry.

Also, think yesterday one country lodged a complaint to the WTO over non-compliance of previous WTO rulings by the US.

The "war" is only starting - and smell this will be at various levels :)

convicted one and the rest will know or will create a loop hole.

By the same arguement used for the arrest of David - that means any adult webmaster who happens to travel on-route thru a country where - eg blowjobs are obscene and an offense - can be arrested in that country, even tho they have no business interests there.

OK.. Truth is, there is a lot in the background going on - and that is related to a US citizen who was a previous owner of BOS and is currently resident in Costa Rica operating one of the largest gaming operations in the world.

Who knows, but smell there will be pressure on Caruthers to deliver up some information he may know - or not know. Either way, seriously doubt he'll be playing these games.

1 online gambling advertiser has spent over 20 million a month in ad spend with Yahoo. ( net 2 casinos) for years running...

casinos has the highest amount of traffic and bids (advertisers) on yahoo and they make the most from gambling online promotions...

yes online gambling should be legal. but id imagine the casinos in vegas have a lot of pull. and could very well be swaying a few politicians opinions with their comp presidential suites and handfuls of chips.

Online Gambling will eventually become legal. The US is loosing too much TAX on it.

Ironically iwantu, several US casinos have set up gambling operations in the UK and paying the UK revenue services. :)

I'm surprised they have not been arrested when they touch down on soil in the land of the free :winkwink:



PS Presumably they have a corp structure where no US citzen is on the board etc.

it's all about the knowledge and money ; ' both the gov. wants to control ;

I don't understand why they have to make them illegal, don't really understand the logic, maybe the gov't is just jealous

It's a repetition of prohibition days, a touch of greed and "I know better" blazi.

Most other countries have no problems with gaming - they may have whatever laws, but it's not an issue.

The reason presented by the US at a World Trade Organization hearing was that is was "necessary to protect public morals or to maintain public order".

(Save time - here's the basics I posted elsewhere)

This issue has already been dealt with at the WTO where it was upheld that three US Federal laws, specifically the Wire Act, Travel Act and the Illegal Gambling Business Act were in violation of GATS. It was further judged that the purported justification and defense by the US that these laws were "necessary to protect public morals or to maintain public order" failed to meet US obligations under GATS.

It's also interesting to note that although the Govt of Antigua and Barbuda are the prime complainants, - third parties to this action include Canada, Taipei, European Community, Japan and Mexico.

Bottom line - the core laws under which David was indicted, are currently in violation of international trading treaties.

Honestly, they don't give a fuck about him. They're trying to seize $4.5 Billion of the company's assets. That's what they really want and his freedom will be the bargaining chip.

stupid arrest

Sure... suspect that is the case KRL - also may not be unrelated to the WTO ruling (above). It took less than 48 hours after David's arrest to have a further WTO hearing and independent enquiry into why the US has not fulfulled it's obligations under GATS. A time period of 90 days has been allowed for completion of this enquiry.

That $4.5 bill is sure not going to come from any UK public company KRL. BOS plc does not owe any taxation to the US and has no business base there.

Sounds like you are referring to Kaplan who was the original founder of BOS? Sure, he is a US citizen and is most likely liable for US taxation at one point. He is still resident in Costa Rica operating prob one of the largest gaming corps in the world and earning more money than all of GFY together, - but members of his family have been arrested - some in Florida. It may be possible to access some of Gary Kaplan's assets. Little doubts there will be the usual extradition requests, but doubt the govt here are going to pass over any Kaplan assets (they have a habit of going nowhere :winkwink: )

BOS is now a UK company, BOS plc, and the prime officer is David who is a UK citizen. BOS has no business base in the US - only in the UK, Antigua and Costa Rica, but with gaming licenses in.. not sure exactly now, but over 60 other countries.

It's legal in the country in which he lives and operates his legal, publicly traded company.

gambling cant really be blocked online...

First off they were after this guy because his company had busses and kiosks outside american sporting events taking live bets and signing people up to the site. That is illegal. They werent after him because he ran a legal book. It is typical with federal charges that they tack on as much shit as they can for leverage.
This guy was a retard, and broke the law, end of story. It has little to do with the current gambling laws that are being tossed around. There has been an investigation on this guy and his company for 5 years. This was just the first opportunity they had to detain him. This guy was breaking the law, and rubbing it in the governments faces, and they finaly found a chance to nail him in the states.