Gambling is only legal when the government gets a cut

Jerome Douglas

Stocks fell sharply in the online gaming industry at the beginning of September, after word spread of a second Internet gaming executive arrested by U.S. authorities.

Peter Dicks of Sportingbet.com was taken into custody as part of an ongoing investigation into the gaming site. The arrest warrant was sealed, and there are no indictments, said a senior trooper from the Louisiana State Police.

“This arrest highlights the U.S. Department of Justice is going after online gaming companies by arresting their board members,” said a London analyst who declined to be named.

Many critics feel that the government is going after online gaming execs in an attempt to shut down online gambling because they aren’t getting a cut.

“Look at horse racing, look at government sanctioned lotteries,” says Mike Adams of CounterThink.org. “Those are the same principle as online gambling, but the right people get a cut when people buy a lottery ticket or bet on a horse race. That’s the only difference.”

Others say the government is cracking down in order to appeal to conservative voters just before the November elections. Currently, an anti-gaming bill passed by the House is stalled in the Senate, which will recess in less than a week.

“The bill continues to face opposition, but this is politics, and we are not complacent, and the outcome remains uncertain,” PartyGaming Chief Executive Mitch Garber told a conference call on Thursday.

Other online gambling sites are beginning to move their support base away from U.S. customers in case such a bill eventually goes through. Analysts say Sportingbet’s U.S.-focused sports betting business was similar to that of BetOnSports, whose CEO David Carruthers was arrested in Texas in July.