BetOnSports to pay $28.2 million fine

[The Buzz]

The BetOnSports case has been a popular topic in Buzzy's World, and hopefully the story is starting to die down. The online gambling company was sentenced Tuesday as a company to probation and a $28.2 million fine in a St. Louis court on Tuesday.

Lawyers for both the company and the government say it's unlikely the fine will ever be paid.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

U.S. gamblers alone are still owed $7 million to $8 million, according to the company.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Holtshouser said the real amount may be much larger. He estimated that perhaps only half went through the steps to verify the money owed to them. Others may have been either concerned about the legality of the bets or skeptical of e-mails and ads requesting gamblers to provide proof to the company.

[Shaun O'neill]

What a complete load of crap of course it will never be paid, the administrators will never get the money that is owed to them meaning the players, affiliates ect will lose out and the US goverment gettng paid come, they should be happy with what Gary has paid them.

Greed that is the US goverment in fac that is pretty much all goverments.

Shaun

[cfitz29]

Yeah good luck getting the money, what a joke

[Shaun O'neill]

Its just pure greed, i wonder if under the administration law they get paid before the players and affiliates, if they ever get any money back.

Shaun

Yeah good luck getting the money, what a joke

[Anthony]

Yes it is pure greed. They don't give a shit about the players. They operate under the banner of "player protection", but don't do a damn thing to actually protect players. Just more money to the U.S. government courtesy of the players.

[kimlee]

So did the CEO Carruthers get a just punishment? He should be jailed for stiffing, not for gambling violations.

[Shaun O'neill]

What is stiffing?

And so far nothing has happened to David aside from a long term in under hotel arrest.

Shaun

So did the CEO Carruthers get a just punishment? He should be jailed for stiffing, not for gambling violations.

[eaton2003]

Unfair to jail someone for stiffing which I am a little unsure what it is when he is personally incarcerated and unable to do anything about his situation. David Carruthers made a mistake by believing being british he is above US law and teaming up with G when he clearly had a mob mentality from day one and this should of raised alarm bells.

[Shaun O'neill]

LOL thats pretty true living in Costa Rica is one thing having the security team that G and BOS had meant he was untouchable, but then giving it the big one is the states is a differant ball game.

David will be out soon enough I am sure Alex will be able to book him for the after dinner entertainment in London in 2011 on the awards night would be a lot better than the guy they hired last year.

Shaun

Unfair to jail someone for stiffing which I am a little unsure what it is when he is personally incarcerated and unable to do anything about his situation. David Carruthers made a mistake by believing being british he is above US law and teaming up with G when he clearly had a mob mentality from day one and this should of raised alarm bells.

[eaton2003]

David will be out soon enough I am sure Alex will be able to book him for the after dinner entertainment in London in 2011 on the awards night would be a lot better than the guy they hired last year.

Shaun

Would be interesting to hear David's story and how it all went down. One minute he thought he was connecting in texas to another flight to Costa Rica. The next minute he was being lead away by state marshalls. Then as the the chaos that unfolded in Costa Rica when 2,000 employees found they were out of a job and the other smaller operations that relied on BoS for a paycheck.

Would like to hear the story from David's mouth as it would make a very interesting speech.

How many customers did BoS have in the end before the collapse?

[Anthony]

Despite attempting to contact over 89,000 potential creditors by either email, mail or public advertisement, we have only received claims from 9,121 player creditors totaling $8,078,073.

https://betonsports.vantisplc.com/

[kimlee]

Would be interesting to hear David's story

Here's my take.

David was a mid-level manager in the industry. Inveterate criminal Gary Kaplan hired him to be a powerless figurehead CEO. Carruthers was just a front man so BoS could get listed on the London stock exchange and Kaplan could cash out.

BetonSports strategy was to grow by acquiring other companies. They paid top dollar in cash to keep their financial ratios high, while also burning cash on advertising. They used post-up money for operations and acquisitions. It was a pyramid scheme.

In the end they had no assets. They just had a "plan" to use future profits to pay debts. They stiffed everybody. Carruthers knew, or should have known that BoS was just a fraudulent shell, with no intentions or legitimate hope of paying customers, creditors, or stockholders. It was Enron-lite.

Maybe an unregulated sportsbook has no legal obligation to even attempt to remain solvent. If customers are stupid enough to send them money they they absorb the risk. But it is definitely illegal to perpetrate fraud on the London stock exchange. In other words he might be under arrest for the wrong reason, but he deserves punishment. Carruthers was happy to use the title of CEO and draw a nice salary. These guys always claim to be diabolical geniuses of betting and business until they get caught, when they claim to be hapless unlucky pawns.

[eaton2003]

@kimlee: excellent summary on the entire setup and BoS always seemed to be huge in Costa Rica compared to other sportsbooks there. However I would brush off all costa rican sportsbooks with the same tin of paint. That being said would you brush off Bodog as the same as they act big but in reality being a private company no one truly knows their size. Hence they can quite rightly be paying huge costs without making the huge dividend.

There are plenty of good and bad all over the web.