Paradise Poker Owner Sportingbet's Value PlummetsOnline Gaming company Sees Huge Stock Value Slide |
|
One of online poker's biggest parent companies saw big losses on Monday. According to a recent report in the U.K. Guardian, September 11 will go down as another traumatic day in the poker business world, as over £400 million was wiped from the overall value of Sportingbet, owner of Paradise Poker and one of the online world's biggest gaming companies.
Sportingbet's Peter Dicks was recently arrested at JFK airport in New York, forcing the immediate suspension of public trading on the London Stock Exchange-traded European giant. Dicks' arrest is the second high profile gaming arrest within the last three months in the United States. BetonSports chief executive officer David Carruthers was arrested in July and is facing charges of racketeering and tax evasion.
As fears surrounding the international gaming industry continue to run unabated thanks to the arrest of the second CEO of a major gaming site, concerns of future law enforcement actions have hit the industry hard and forced the companies under fire to take action. Not every company, however, is taking the same approach to its defense. Unlike BetonSports, which fired Carruthers and dissolved its US gaming interests, SportingBet is supporting its main man and rallying the troops for his court appearance Thursday in New York's State Supreme Court.
According to a statement from SportingBet, Dicks will "vigorously contest" his extradition to the state of Louisiana on illegal gambling charges and that there had been no previous correspondence between legal authorities in Louisiana and SportingBet officials. Dicks faces up to five years in prison and a $20,000 fine if found guilty on charges in Louisiana.
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
