Nuts! Feds Grab Dicks Snatched at JFK - U.S. War on Online Gaming Shows No Sign of Petering Out
Peter Dicks, Chairman of online wagering site SportingBet PLC, was arrested last night at JFK airport on illegal online gaming charges.
The grabbing of Dicks, a Brit who we've just awarded a fictitious bronzed plaque that he can place next to Anurag Dikshit in our newly created Gaming Executive Awkward Name Hall of Fame, comes on the heels of the Feds arresting another Brit, David Carruthers, the former CEO of BetOnSports nabbed at DFW on his way from England to Costa Rica. Both SportingBet and BetOnSports are sites where you can apparently bet on sports and also happen to be publicly traded companies on the London Stock Exchange.
Dicks' arrest is troubling on many levels, and you'd think that the Feds would have better things to do with their time than arresting jolly old Brits who chair online gaming sites. Seems like that could be taking away resources from more important things like, we don't know, catching Islamic terrorists who've sworn it their duty to kill American civilians wherever we may be, which we're no socio-political experts here but that seems to be a greater threat to the fabric of American society than betting on the Steelers.
Fucking al Qaeda. Hate those guys.
For more information on the Dicks arrest, visit Poker News.
Hey Wicked - just dropping by to say "hello" - haven't spoken since Vegas. How are you? From the site, I can tell as sharp as ever. Here in Rio, everything ok. Lots of poker and almost done with editing and about to enter post-production for the film - lamenting a bit I didn't get an interview with you guys - but it still could happen... I am coming back to Vegas in October. Are you guys going to be around?
Hope you are all well.
Big Kiss,
Maria
Posted by: Maria | September 08, 2006 at 02:24 PM
Nothing to fear... but the American Gestapo. For much the same reasons as fearing Al-Qaeda.
Posted by: Haley | September 08, 2006 at 01:25 PM
thanks CJ...we'll be on the lookout for your update. changed the headline to this post...i guess it was still the feds or US Customs that first got him then turned him over the the Port Authority and now he has to be extradited down to Louisiana ... maybe take what we said about resources for fighting terrorism and for Dicks replace it with resources for rebuilding Louisiana areas hit hardest by hurricane katrina that are still not getting the help they need.
Posted by: snake | September 08, 2006 at 11:41 AM
st landry parish d.a.'s website the-good-guys.org
Posted by: Slim | September 08, 2006 at 11:30 AM
Pops, I'd suggest transferring your funds to Bodog.
Posted by: Chops | September 08, 2006 at 06:57 AM
I have been gambling with Sportingbet for 8 years or so. It is a fantastic site and very reliable. Now the questions is should I pull all my money...do I risk losing it. Looks like it is time to move to Vegas or Canada.
Posted by: Pops | September 08, 2006 at 06:53 AM
Watch outside the lines this weekend for a full report on this stuff.
Posted by: Andrew | September 08, 2006 at 06:15 AM