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back to article BetOnSports founder Kaplan jailed for four years

The founder of BetOnSports.com was imprisoned for four years and three months on Monday after pleading guilty to violating the Wire Wager Act and racketeering offences. Gary Kaplan, 50, pleaded guilty to the offences and agreed to pay $43.6m as part of a plea bargaining agreement. The huge fine reportedly amounts to around …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Gambling is legal

    http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/26/technology/26gamble.html

    Gambling is legal in the US, just go to Las Vegas and see for yourself.... as the WTO put it:

    "U.S. Online Gambling Policy Violates Law, W.T.O. Rules", they can't make online gambling illegal if their domestic gambling is legal.

    As for Kaplans arrest, he was foolish enough to fly over US territory and expect them to pay attention to WTO rules. That was stupid.

    If he was in the UK, sooner or later, they would have used the lapdog treaty to take him from the UK and he would rely on 'Alan Johnson' to protect him.... ha ha ha.... imagine that, Alan Johnson protecting British people from misuse of an extradition treaty.... what a joke that man has become.

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  2. The Original Ash
    FAIL

    Half his net worth?

    It's good that once he comes out of prison he won't have $43m waiting for him to live out his retirement in complete luxury.

    Oh, wait...

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  3. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    Double standards all round?

    I don't suppose the charities were forced to give up the laundered funds, with their pleas of ignorance being accepted as a valid excuse of criminal largesse? If funds were donated to friends, would the outcome be the same?

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Weird US laws...

    There are some US laws that really make me scratch my head... Gambling being one of them.

    Although my favourite is you can't have a beer until 21, but you can drive several tons of high speed death machine in your middle teens.... So you can't harm your own liver, but it's fine to spread somebody else's over the sidewalk!

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re: Weird US laws...

    Have you looked at the restrictions put in place regarding buying alcohol in a UK supermarket recently?

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  6. Paul Smith
    FAIL

    Interesting reporting

    "Punters lost more than $16m when BetOnSports closed is books in 2006." Poor punters - bad BetOnSports. Remind us, why did they close their books? Oh yes, now I remember. They were found guilty of breaking laws before they had been passed. They were held under "house arrest", and now, because they have been good boys and admitted their guilt (and paid $43 million fine) they only get to spend another year in jail before they can go home to their familes. And what was their crime? Surely it can't have been that they were better at business then some Americans?

    Remind me, why are we against the Taliban?

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  7. Player_16
    Pint

    @ AC 15:23

    I think you have your priorities crossed. Sure, you can drive on a full license at 16 and sign up for war, I'm OK with that but, at 18 you can buy a gun (rifle) and go blastin' 'til you heart's content but you can't buy a beer... except maybe Kansas; where you can but not full-strength (... as to what I can remember).

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  8. My Alter Ego
    FAIL

    @AC Re: Weird US laws..,

    Yup, they say that if you LOOK under under a certain age then they MAY ask for identification so that you can prove that you are 18 or older.

    Not really a restriction but covering their arses (and rightly so).

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  9. Charles Manning

    re: Half his net worth

    He still has 43M. Though if his lawyers and accountants are any good his real worth will be far larger.

    If he's a good boy then he's in for 2 out of the 4 years.

    If he pays $10k a day protection money he should be pretty safe and emerge with his sphincters in good condition. That will cost him around $7M.

    $36M + whatever was not accounted for is enough to ride out life.

    I almost want to sign up.

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  10. Schultz
    WTF?

    Evil or stupid?

    Betting is evil. Bet enough money on sports and someone will start buying referees. Bet on a computer shuffling your deck and someone will teach the computer amazing tricks and take your money.

    Why oh why don't people work instead of betting?

    Stupid? You bet!

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  11. kain preacher

    title

    "U.S. Online Gambling Policy Violates Law, W.T.O. Rules", they can't make online gambling illegal if their domestic gambling is legal.

    Um online gambling is not legal and Nevada. You should learn all the restrictions on gambling .

    Lets say online gambling is legal in Nevada. If he allows online gaming from any other state he has broken the law. Point being in order to gamble in the US you have to be in certain locations. If I'm in California I cant call a sports bookie in Nevada. I must physically be in Nevada. I think that's point alot of people from over seas miss.

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