The recent arrest
of David Carruthers, the CEO of BetOnSports
in Dallas Texas while changing planes on his
way to Costa Rica by US authorities raises some
serious questions between gamblers who use offshore
sportsbooks, and professional gaming advisors
who recommend offshore books like myself. This
happened on Sunday the 16th of July, and not
only shut down a series of sportsbooks owned
by his organization, it prompted the highly
touted Bo Dog Sports and Gaming Convention to
be cancelled in Las Vegas, which I was attending
the following week. Oh how Uncle Sam loves to
stick his nose into something that he does not
control, simply because the US Government has
no way to tax proceeds coming into the States
from offshore books and Poker rooms, that is
the KEY in this entire scenario, have NO doubts
about it.
There were 10 others arrested
under "conspiracy to take money on sports
bets." To my knowledge, and research, Mr.
Carruthers is not a US citizen, and he is the
highest profile arrested, as I cannot speak
of the citizenship of the other 10 arrested
parties. There was also charges against the
advertising of his books and gamming properties
in the United States by a federal grand jury.
This raises serious concerns for many of us
in the industry as a whole, and to sports bettors
whose accounts are currently frozen, tied up
in legal proceedings for the long term I would
assume with this situation.
The bottom line is simple
here. The US Government who has more than enough
problems on their hands, driving the economy
into the ground, escalating gas prices, a War
in Iraq costing billions daily, not to mention
American lives, and they have no business digging
another hole that will cause more harm than
good. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars
will it take to prosecute a non-US citizen with
an industry with more money and backing than
most small 3rd world countries fighting them?
The US Government turns
a blind eye to gambling when it benefits them.
Revenues from State and National lotteries in
the tens of millions of dollars, revenues from
the State of Nevada and Atlantic City in the
tens of millions of dollars. All of a sudden,
they realize that they are missing the boat
on a multi-billion dollar gambling industry
offshore, fueled by Americans for the most part,
so instead of devising a way to work with authorities
offshore to track and tax winnings coming into
the states as unclaimed income, to get their
piece of the pie, they'll just call them criminals
and arrest them. Another colossal blunder by
a government fueled on greed and corruption
at the highest levels. Go do some good in world,
feed the homeless, give the VA hospitals the
money you would use to fight this trumped up
charge to help war veterans in a war we should
have been out of months ago.
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Am a patriotic? Hell yes
I am, however infringements on the rights of
individual US citizens who CHOOSE to gamble
offshore in a country where it is licensed and
legal to gamble in no way is the government's
business in my opinion. Even worse, to arrest
a non-US citizen, who is a CEO of an international
company, on the stock exchange in London, is
an extreme measure by right winged policies
that need to be changed. Did you know it is
legal to call a bookie and bet $100 on the Packers?
You cannot get arrested for that, BUT the guy
taking the bet can get arrested. When that same
guy calls an offshore sportsbook to make the
same bet, it is LEGAL for that book to take
that bet as action, since that book is offshore
and licensed and regulated by the government
of that country to do so. A fine line that needs
to be determined, and this case may very well
affect the way things are dome in the near future.
Have NO doubts, gambling
on sports drives ALL sports in this country
with TV ratings, Direct TV sales, Las Vegas
Sportsbooks, and many other tangible items to
numerous to mention. I suggest a call to arms
in the fight to eliminate offshore books, Poker
Rooms, and casino's by the US Government. I
have contacted all my State Senators and Congressmen,
and I suggest you all do the same to address
this very important issue and right we all have
in jeopardy.
Tony George is a documented member of The Professional
Handicappers League.
Read more of his articles and get his premium
plays here.
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