CEO Of Online Gambling Company Sentenced

Gambling News - January 11th, 2010 - Written By Glen

David Carruthers, former CEO of BetOnSports, a once lucrative gambling venue, has been sentenced to 33 months in prison.

In the second half of 2009, sentencing began against executives of the now defunct BetOnSports. BetOnSports, a now defunct online sportsbook, had been persecuted by the American government, culminating in the arrest and trial of the former BetOnSports executives. Gary Kaplan and David Carruthers had both been indicted, though Kaplan had already been sentenced.

In June of 2000, Gary Kaplan, then CEO, had hired Carruthers. Carruthers, a citizen of the United Kingdom, had assumed a place as the Director of BetOnSports in 2004. As the first major defendant in the case against BetOnSports, Carruthers had plead guilty and also stated that he would testify against fellow co-defendants if necessary.

BetOnSports had been operating out of Costa Rica. At its height, hundreds of millions of dollars were being exchanged between the sportsbook and its players. Due to the Wire Act and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, even offshore sports betting sites were prohibited from accepting bets from American players. Unfortunately for the CEOs of the company, most of these hundreds of millions had come from the United States.

"The prosecution and conviction of Carruthers is significant to the Government's efforts at enforcement of U.S. laws against offshore Internet and telephone sports wagering businesses, because Carruthers was both a foreign national and a top executive of BetOnSports," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven E Holtshouser.

Online Gambling sites and sportsbooks have taken the brunt of the damage from the courts, but online poker has also taken heat from U.S. government persecution. Unfortunately, Carruthers will be stuck to 33 months - almost 3 years - in prison for his involvement in making available online sports betting to a country in which he was not a citizen.