Sportingbet PLC, an online sportsbook, has voluntarily suspended trading its shares on the London Stock Exchange after one of its chairmen was detained by the United States government yesterday.
Sportingbet chairman Peter Dicks was arrested at J.F.K airport and is being held as a fugitive on an outstanding warrant generated in Louisiana. According to an announcement made at Sportingbet's website, a hearing is due to take place soon, but it wouldn't release any more information.
Sportingbet owns popular poker site Paradise Poker.
This arrest comes two months after David Caruthers, CEO of BetonSports, was arrested in Texas on charges of racketeering and fraud. Caruthers remains in house arrest awaiting trail in St. Louis.
In 1998, Jay Cohen and two other executives were indicted by the Department of Justice for violating the Wire Act. Cohen returned to the United States to fight the charges. He lost and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
At a local level, Richard Lee, the sixth-place finisher of this year's World Series of Poker, is being investigated for running an online sports book out of his home in San Antonio. That investigation is being run by the San Antonio police department. Although Lee's house was raided and thousands of dollars worth of property was seized last week, charges have yet to be filed.
Online gaming stocks fell as the news of Dicks' arrest spread because most customers of online poker and sportsbooks live in the United States. PartyGaming shares fell about 10 percent to 105.75 pence, 888 Holding fell about 15 percent to 144 pence, and Empire Online lost 3.1 percent to 70 pence.
Share prices of Sportingbet only dropped 2 percent before the company voluntarily stopped its shares from being traded.
