Stocks of poker companies listed on the London Stock Exchange continue to have a rough week, with both PartyGaming and Empire Online coming close to hitting historical lows. Sportingbet, which owns ParadisePoker.com, watched its stocks plummet from 329.5 pence to 171.75 pence this week, which is also close to their historical low.
The stocks fell after investors received news that David Carruthers, CEO of London-based BETonSPORTS, was arrested while changing planes in Dallas Sunday. Caruthers, as well as 11 other individuals from four different companies, were indicted by a federal grand jury June 1.
Trading of BETonSPORTS stocks on the London Stock Exchange was suspended Tuesday after the arrest. The company, which has an online poker room but makes most of its money as a sportsbook, lost about 17 percent of its value on the news of Carruthers' arrest.
The last time poker stocks fell this low was in November of last year after PartyGaming, which owns and operates PartyPoker.com as well as several other gaming sites, predicted in an investors' report that the growth of online poker was expected to slow.
Stocks of the companies eventually rebounded, but started to slump again in May as debate of the legality of online gambling in the United States heated up again in the House of Representatives, which eventually passed a bill designed to stop the flow of cash to the online sites.
