2006 July 22 Gambling News, Events and Happenings

A New Dining Experience at the World Series of Poker Players at this year’s World Series of Poker have discovered a way to eat for just $20 a day.

The former chief financial officer of Betonsports, the internet gambling firm at the centre of an FBI investigation, is claiming the firm owes him over £100,000 in unpaid fees and share options .

WHEN David Carruthers was arrested last Monday night at Dallas Airport, panic spread through the online gambling industry. “Never mind the falling share price,” many will have wondered, “am I going to go to jail?”

So it has finally happened. US authorities - which always had distinct views about the legality of online betting - struck at the London-listed BetonSports last week. Its chief executive, David Carruthers, was taken into custody and an arrest warrant was issued for its founder. Back home, its shares were suspended and the bulk of its sites closed.

It’s not as if the warning signs weren’t there. Laws were already in place and loopholes were being closed; Wall Street lawyers were advising clients not to get involved; and listing prospectuses spelt out the risks. So if you didn’t know that online gambling in the US was at best a grey area and at worst outright illegal, you didn’t really have much excuse.

Greedily chasing the tax revenues from the booming gambling industry, the government risks an epidemic of addiction - with all the personal tragedy that entails.

RENO, Nev. (AP) - A severe thunderstorm nailed the Reno area, turning out the lights at casinos and a stadium where former major league slugger Jose Canseco was playing for a minor league team.

Wayne Rooney has spoken for the first time about how he built up massive debts - said at the time to be £700,000 - through a gambling company he was introduced to by another England player

Online sports betting firms employing thousands of Costa Ricans could turn away U.S. gamblers after the arrest in Texas this week of a leading industry executive, but for now it remains business as usual.