BetOnSports Boss Takes Plea Deal in Online Casino Case

In return for the plea by the one-time online casino czar, US prosecutors promised to recommend a maximum prison sentence of less than three years.

David Carruthers, CEO of online gambling site BetOnSports, agreed to plea guilty to US racketeering charges as part of a plea arrangement. In return for the plea by the one-time online casino czar, US prosecutors promised to recommend a maximum prison sentence of less than three years.

Carruthers agreed as part of his deal to cooperate in prosecutions against BetOnSports founder Gary Kaplan and six other defendants involved in the online gaming case.

The plea was made this morning before US District Judge Carol Jackson in St. Louis. Carruthers told the judge that when Kaplan recruited him in 2000, he believed online gambling to be legal.

But, like previous plea-taker Anurag Dikshit, Carruthers said he came to realize over time that Internet gambling is illegal. He also testified that, while telling customers BetOnSports was legal, the company was collecting and paying out using furtive and covert methods.

Legal observer Jacob Rabinowitz says Carruthers had a tougher case to defend than many online casino operators being persecuted by the US Department of Defense. Unlike casino gambling, there are actual statutes against sports gambling and online sports gambling, notably the Wire Act and the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.

Carruthers has been under house arrest since July of 2006. By arranging the plea, he saw the feds drop six other charges which could have carried a sentence of over twenty years.