The Finance Director of Sportingbet, who is preparing to take over from Nigel Payne as Chief Executive of the online betting group, released his first interview since David Carruthers\’ arrest. Speaking to The Guardian, McIver said: “Telephone betting was wound down gradually and was certainly not a significant part of the business when I joined in December 2001.”
When told than following the acquisition of Betmaker.com (later rebranded SportingbetUSA) in May 2000, almost one in three wagers was placed via toll-free telephone lines to call centres in Costa Rica and Alderney, McIver said: “That\’s news to me. I wasn\’t here [at Sportingbet] at the time.”
A year later, when Sportingbet announced the acquisition of Sportsbook.com, telephone business accounted for 5% of its earnings. Again McIver insisted to The Guardian these telephone sales were wound down after Sportingbet took control.
But in 2001, Sportingbet also moved from OFEX to AIM and the small print of the prospectus stated: “The directors have been advised that it is likely that certain of the group\’s activities may constitute a violation of certain US federal statutes, including the federal Wire Act and the laws of certain individual states. The penalties for violations of these statutes include the possibility of significant fines and imprisonment of relevant individuals.”
30 per cent of Sportingbet, which was founded in 1998 by the owner of a small chain of betting shops in South Wales, remains controlled by two groups of anonymous investors who sold their betting operations, Sportsbook.com and Paradise Poker, to the company.
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