BetonSports.com CEO Arrested at Airport

DALLAS -- In a sharp escalation of efforts to stem the tide of online gambling, federal agents arrested David Carruthers, the CEO of BetonSports.com, a publicly-traded company on the AIM London exchange,
David Carruthers, CEO of BetonSports has been arrested in the United States.  at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as he was transferring to a plane en route to Costa Rica. He was arrested in connection with racketeering charges stemming from an indictment that was filed in the Eastern District of Missouri.

In addition to Mr. Carruthers, the government filed charges against 10 other people involved with BetOnSports and with three Florida marketing companies that prosecutors say were involved in promoting illegal gambling.

The indictment alleges that Gary Kaplan and Norman Steinberg, as the owners and operators of BetonSports, Millennium Sportsbook, Gibraltar Sportsbook, and North American Sports Association, took or caused their employees to take bets from undercover federal agents in St. Louis who used undercover identities to open wagering accounts.

The indictment seeks to have the accused forfeit $4.5 billion in holdings.

The charges reinforce a growing divide between the United States’ policy on Internet gambling and its popularity in much of the rest of the world, not just among gamblers but also with investors. Some popular sites have sold shares to the public and are experiencing growing revenue and, in turn, interest even from major American investment houses, which hold shares of the online casinos in their mutual funds.

There is also a disconnect between the government’s efforts to prohibit online casinos and the activities of hundreds of thousands of Americans who regularly place bets over the Internet.