Sportingbet Chairman Detained by U.S. Authorities

The Salem witch trials ended way back in 1693, but it looks like the hunt may be back on in the United States. Less than two months after David Carruthers, head of BetOnSports, was arrested at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, another chair of an overseas sports betting company has been nabbed by the U.S. government. This time, it is Peter Dicks, chairman of Sportingbet Plc, which also owns Paradise Poker.

An official reason for his arrest has not been given, although it most likely has to do with the fact that Sportingbet, as its name would suggest, takes online sports bets, almost eighty percent of which are from Americans.

Andrew Lee, an analyst with Dresdner Kleinwort in London, was obviously perturbed, saying, “Unless the chairman is being held on charges unrelated to online gaming, we can probably assume the Department of Justice has an agenda against sports-betting companies that are using telephone lines to make bets.”

London-based Sportingbet’s request to have its shares suspended on the London Stock Exchange was granted. In the meantime, PartyGaming shares were down almost ten percent and 888 Holdings shares were down almost sixteen percent.

Originally published September 7, 2006