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BetOnSports to close US business after chief arrested

August 11, 2006

ONLINE gaming firm BetOnSports, which removed its Scots-born chief executive from his job following his detention in Texas last month on racketeering charges, today said it was closing down its Stateside business.

The company told the London Stock Exchange it would cease operations in Costa Rica and Antigua, where its US-focused operations are based, because they were no longer viable amid a restraining order on the business and the charges faced by former boss David Carruthers.

BetOnSports said it would also pay any liabilities to staff and creditors and repay balances due to American customers. Its ability to do this would partly depend on whether it could persuade banks and cash processors to release its funds, the firm added.

Management were taking steps to make sure the company did not knowingly accept any wagers from US customers, it said.

Mr Carruthers and seven others have already pleaded not guilty to racketeering and other charges and an American court has extended to next Monday an order barring the online bookmaker from taking US bets.

Its former chief executive was arrested by US authorities in July while passing through a Texas airport. He was en route from the UK to Costa Rica.

The charges allege the company failed to pay US excise taxes on billions of pounds worth of wagers taken from gamblers. The United States is the bookmaker's biggest market.

BetOnSports said in a statement: "The directors are taking steps to ensure that the company will not knowingly accept any wagering transactions from US-based customers."

The London-listed company has an Asian business which took some £10.6 million in bets from 10,000 active players in the last financial year.

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