SportingBet Chairman Peter Dicks Arrested

Another giant in the gaming world has been hit and hit hard. SportingBet PLC which is an online sportsbook and owns the poker site Paradise Poker, has suspended trading their shares on the London Stock Exchange voluntarily as one of its major chairmen was detained by the United States Government at the JFK Airport late last week. Peter Dicks is being held as a fugitive on an outstanding warrant. This is the second major arrest to gaming giants in the last couple of months. The last major arrest was that of David Caruthers, CEO of Bet on Sports, he was arrested on counts of rackateering and fraud.

With the news breaking that Peter Dicks was arrested the online gaming stocks fell (party gaming saw stocks drop 10 percent) drastically because most of the customers for online gaming and sportsbooks reside in the United States. This is getting pretty serious and who knows where the next ax will fall.