Online Gambling Hit Again by Feds

More shockwaves in the online gambling business. Peter Dicks, the chairman of the London-based Sportingbet PLC, was arrested at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport after he arrived on an overseas flight. He was held on a criminal warrant issued by the state of Louisiana. The company asked the London Stock Exchange, where its stock is listed, to halt trading in its shares. The arrest of Dicks follows the July 17 arrest of David Carruthers, then the chief executive of Bet On Sports, during a layover at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Carruthers remains under house arrest in a St. Louis suburb and is awaiting trial early next year. The company discharged Carruthers and has closed its U.S. operation. Gambling law experts said the arrests underscored an intensified government attack on Internet gambling at a time when the customer base was expanding rapidly. It is not illegal under U.S. law for Americans to make online bets, but federal prosecutors maintain that it is illegal for online operators to solicit or accept them. So will the aggressive moves shut down online gambling? Doubtful, according to Nelson Rose, a gambling law expert at Whittier Law School. "It's pretty clear you can't prevent it completely — the Internet was designed to survive a nuclear war."