Leider finde ich es nur auf Englisch, falls jemand einen Deutschen Artikel findet...

Gambling site shares suspended
BETonSPORTS shares suspended after CEO detained and phone connections cut
July 18 2006: 7:40 AM EDT

LONDON (Reuters) -- Shares in online gaming company BETonSPORTS were suspended on Tuesday after its chief executive was detained in the United States and the FBI ordered four telephone companies to cut off its operations.

BETonSPORTS said it had been unable to contact Chief Executive David Carruthers, who is being held in Fort Worth, Texas, but had seen a U.S. indictment "alleging various criminal acts against multiple defendants".

The detention of Carruthers is a blow to the $12 billion a year Internet gambling industry. He had spearheaded a campaign against a Republican-written bill to crack down on online gambling.

BETonSPORTS said it was urgently trying to clarify the situation and assess the impact of a temporary restraining order on its business in the United States, its biggest market.

Shares in companies across the sector fell by as much as 19 percent, while some British gaming executives said they were reviewing whether to travel to the United States.

"This comes a week after the extradition of the NatWest Three, and a lot of companies will be looking at their travel plans," said leisure analyst Wayne Brown at Altium Securities, referring to three former British bankers extradited to the United States last week.

The three pleaded not guilty in federal court to fraud charges linked to a deal with defunct energy giant Enron Corp.

The U.S. Department of Justice said on Monday that BETonSPORTS was among 11 individuals and four corporations facing various charges of racketeering, conspiracy and fraud.

The founder of BETonSPORTS.com, Gary Kaplan, 47, was also charged with 20 felony violations, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest, it added.

"BETonSPORTS.COM and other gambling Web sites operated by Gary Kaplan and his co-defendants offered gamblers in the United States illegal wagering on professional and college football and basketball," said a copy of the indictment seen by Reuters.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has instructed four telephone companies to stop providing services to BETonSPORTS, the company said, citing the U.S. Department of Justice.

The United States has also filed a civil case ordering BETonSPORTS to stop taking sports bets there and to return money held by U.S. customers in their gaming accounts. A hearing in the case could be held within 10 days.

Shares in the company fell 15 percent on Monday after U.S. authorities detained Carruthers while he was changing planes in Dallas on Sunday on his way home from Britain to Costa Rica.

The rest of the sector also fell on Tuesday, with Sportingbet down 19 percent at 0927 GMT, 888 Plc down 14 percent and PartyGaming down 11 percent. BETandWIN also fell around 11 percent.

und etwas aelter, aber wohl der "Ausloeser"

WASHINGTON - The House passed legislation Tuesday that would prevent gamblers from using credit cards to bet online and could block access to gambling Web sites.

The legislation would clarify and update current law to spell out that most gambling is illegal online. But there would be exceptions — for state-run lotteries and horse racing — and passage isn't a safe bet in the Senate, where Republican leaders have not considered the measure a high priority.

The House voted 317-93 for the bill, which would allow authorities to work with Internet providers to block access to gambling Web sites.

Critics argued that regulating the $12 billion industry would be better than outlawing it. Said Rep. Barney Frank (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., "Prohibition didn't work for alcohol. It won't work for gambling."

The American Gaming Association, the industry's largest lobby, has opposed online gambling in the past but recently backed a study of the feasibility of regulating it.

The Internet gambling industry is headquartered almost entirely outside the United States, though about half its customers live in the U.S.

Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Jim Leach, R-Iowa sponsored the bill. They successfully beat back an amendment to strip out exemptions in the legislation for the horse racing industry and state lotteries.

Goodlatte called that "a poison pill amendment," aimed at defeating the larger bill.

Supporters of the measure argued that Internet betting can be addictive and can lead people to lose their savings.

Leach said the problem is particularly acute for young people who are frequently on the Internet. "Never before has it been so easy to lose so much money so quickly at such a young age," he said.

Rep. Shelley Berkley (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev., pushed for removal of the exemptions. She said it was unfair to allow online lotteries and Internet betting on horse racing to flourish while cracking down on other kinds of sports betting, casino games and card games like poker.

Supporters of Internet gambling agreed.

"They call it a prohibition. It's really Congress picking winners and losers," said Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players Alliance, a San Francisco-based group that opposed the bill.

Congress has considered similar legislation in the past.

In 2000, disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff led a fierce campaign against it on behalf of an online lottery company. Supporters of the bill brought up that history Tuesday and suggested that a vote for the bill was a way to make a statement against Abramoff's influence.

However, the lottery exemption wasn't in the bill back in 2000. If it had been, Abramoff's client probably would have backed the bill. Online lotteries are exempted this time around at the behest of states.

Under the provision that relates to horse racing, betting operators would not be prohibited from any activity allowed under the Interstate Horseracing Act. That law was written in the 1970s to set up rules for interstate betting on racing. The industry successfully lobbied for legislation several years ago to clarify that horse racing over the Internet is allowed.

Greg Avioli, chief executive officer of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, said the mention of horse racing in the bill is merely "a recognition of existing federal law."

Avioli said the racing industry has a strong future in the digital age and suggested the bill would send Internet gamblers to racing sites and away from the banned sites.

The Justice Department has taken a different view on the legality of Internet betting on horse races. In a World Trade Organization case involving Antigua, the department said online betting on horse racing remains illegal under the 1961 Wire Act despite the existence of the more recently passed, and updated, Interstate Horseracing Act.

The department hasn't actively enforced its stance.

Like the racing industry, professional sports leagues also like the bill. They argue that Web wagering could hurt the integrity of their sports.

Sen. Jon Kyl (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., is leading support for the ban in the Senate. The issue has not been debated in that chamber this year, and the measure hasn't been identified by Senate leaders as a top priority.

If the horse provision were stricken from the bill, there's a good chance the measure would run into objections from Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and others from racing states.

___

The bill is H.R.4411

Das Gesetz hier ist noch nicht rechtskraeftig, Sportwetten sind jedoch schon seit langem illegal.

Warum wohl der ganze Wirbel... ach ja, Wahlen im November