Sportingbet arrest sparks fears of wider crackdown

Sportingbet arrest sparks fears of wider crackdown

LONDON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Online bookmaker Sportingbet said its chairman faced charges in the United States for providing "gambling by computer," sparking fears no executive in the $12-billion-a-year industry was safe from prosecution.

Sportingbet said Chairman Peter Dicks had been arrested at JFK Airport in New York early on Thursday for alleged violation of Louisiana state laws, mirroring the arrest in July of another CEO on racketeering charges.

Dicks was released on $50,000 bail by a New York court on Friday. He is now scheduled to appear at a hearing before a New York City Criminal Court on Sept. 14 to decide whether he can be extradited to Louisiana.

"I am really too tired to comment," Dicks said after his release in New York, as his lawyers and a woman who identified herself as a family friend escorted him away.

Earlier on Friday, Finance Director Andy McIver told Reuters in London, "Until this is resolved I won't be traveling to the U.S."

"The Louisiana laws involved are incredibly wide ranging," he added. "It covers practically any form of doing anything involving any sort of gaming and a computer."

The arrest of Dicks added to fears of a U.S. crackdown on the lucrative industry and wiped over $1.5 billion off the stock market value of the UK-listed sector on Thursday.

reuters.com