While most industry experts believe either the directors of BetonSports are just trying to avoid to be indicted and extradited themselves or that the UK betting firm is broke and is just buying time, Professor Stephen Saltzburg, a former US deputy assistant Attorney General now teaching law at George Washington University, said the failure of BetonSports and its founder Gary Kaplan to appear in court to contest the charges may be part of a defense strategy intended to deny the court has jurisdiction.
“The St Louis court’s control over BetonSports will largely depend on whether prosecutors can prove the company had sufficient voluntary contact with the US for the court to have jurisdiction over it,” Saltzburg told Bloomberg.
During last Thursday’s hearing, federal prosecutor Marty Woelfle told US District Judge Carol Jackson the Department of Justice couldn’t serve BetonSports in Costa Rica because the office is closed and that it was trying to serve the company in London.
Woelfle also said the court originally ordered BetonSports to publish a message on its website saying that transmitting bets to the US is a violation of American law. But the message on the sportsbook website simply says that “in light of court papers filed in the US, the company has temporarily suspended this facility pending its ability to assess its full position.”
No mention of violations of American laws.
Saltzburg added that when dealing with the internet, the issue of jurisdiction is clouded by the question of who is reaching out to whom and that Kaplan may be able to avoid extradition as long as to he remains in a country where internet gambling is not a crime.
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