Sunday, September 17, 2006

Peter Dicks has resigned his job as chairman of Sportingbet PLC, but he
regained his freedom as New York authorities lifted the threat of
extradition to Louisiana hanging over his head and returned his passport.Mr.
Dicks, 64, was detained last week after arriving at New York's JFK Airport
from London, where customs officers were alerted to an outstanding warrant
for his arrest issued by the state of Louisiana.Mr. Dicks was released after
two days in custody, but his passport was seized and he was ordered to
remain in the New York metropolitan area. At a hearing in criminal court in
the borough of Queens on Thursday, a judge ordered Mr. Dicks' passport
returned after New York Governor George Pataki withdrew a warrant necessary
to extradite Mr. Dicks to Louisiana. That effectively ended his short but
intense legal saga in the Empire State, but jurisdictional questions about
online gambling remain. "Peter Dicks has never committed a crime in
Louisiana and assuming that their statute barring online gaming is correct,
he did not commit a crime in Louisiana," said Barry Slotnick, Mr. Dicks'
attorney.
"Anybody in Louisiana can get on our web site and bet, and if that is a
crime in Louisiana then they are committing a crime, not Peter Dicks," Mr.
Slotnick concluded. "Mr. Dicks has never been to Louisiana."

Two Statements

Sportingbet issued two statements within about 90 minutes of each other. The
first acknowledged that Mr. Dicks had resigned his post as an independent
non-executive chairman of the London-based gambling enterprise. His
resignation was accepted.

The second confirmed that Mr. Dicks was granted an extension to his bail
that allowed him to return to the United Kingdom.

Mr. Dicks still faces arrest and prosecution in Louisiana because the
warrant remains active. He could be sentenced to five years in prison if
found guilty of "computer gambling," but that may be unlikely based on the
short history of such cases.

The charges against Mr. Dicks are not as serious or wide-ranging as those
laid out against David Carruthers, the former chief executive of
BETonSPORTS.

Mr. Carruthers, who was arrested about two months ago and subsequently
fired by his company, has been charged by federal authorities in Missouri
with money laundering and tax evasion.

History of Prosecution

Mr. Carruthers, 49, was released on bail last month. He posted a $1-million
bail bond and remains under house arrest at a hotel in Clayton, Missouri,
where he wears an electronic tagging device so his whereabouts can be
monitored.

Jay Cohen, the former chief executive of World Sports Exchange (WSEX), is
still the only executive of a legal and regulated online gambling firm to be
convicted by a U.S. court for taking wagers from U.S. residents and sent to
jail.

Unlike all of the other executives, Mr. Cohen, 38, chose to stand trial
rather than plea-bargain. In 2000 a Manhattan jury found the Long Island,
New York, native guilty. He was sentenced to 21 months in jail and fined
$5,000.