Sportingbet cashes out of U.S.
British-based gambling corporation Sportingbet sold its online operations in the U.S. For $1.
One press report in the Washington Post failed to note the anti-online gambling law in the U.S. recently signed into being by President George W. Bush. The new regulations were contained in a port security law.
Sportingbet may have lost its taste for profitable operations in the U.S. after its CEO was arrested on a Louisiana warrant for illegal gambling. That CEO is now back in the U.K. and presumably has cancelled all future trips to Louisiana. Sportingbet once got 60 percent of its total revenue from U.S. online gambling.
As CNET News.com reported this week, the new anti-online gambling laws may not go unchallenged. Another British company, PokerStars, claims its online poker games in the U.S. are games of skill, not chance, and therefore exempt from the port security law and its anti-gaming clauses. Sounds like that may be a prelude to a court date. PokerStars says it will continue to welcome American players. Looks like they're gambling on winning a legal bet.
