New York authorities charged a total of 27 individuals in four states in connection with operating an illegal online sports betting site, playwithal.com, that took in $3.3 billion in bets from 40,000 US customers in the past 28 months.
Charges also were brought against four companies: Primary Development Inc, a New York-based web designer that created the sports betting site for defendant James Giordano, Prolexic Technologies Inc, a Florida-based company that provided the web site with computer security, Digital Solutions SA, a Costa Rica-based company, and its Florida counterpart, D.S. Networks SA, which provided playwithal.com& with with its servers, data and software.
According to prosecutors the ring used the site hosted in Florida, with servers and “wire room” situated on St. Maarten and more recently in Costa Rica, to manage sports bets coming through a network of nearly 2,000 bookies across the country
“This is the largest illegal gambling operation that this department has ever encountered,” said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. “It rivals casinos for the amount of betting.”
Kevin Ryan, a spokesman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, said the case is one of the first times that a web designer corporation and the companies that maintain the web sites have been charged.
He also said the arrests represent the first time that internet gambling charges have been brought since the enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act on October 13.
UPDATE: Prolexic Technologies said it was wrongly named in the indictment as the web host provider to the internet sportsbook. The company is the worldwide leader in DDoS mitigation services. “Our job is to prevent DDoS attacks, which are one of the most costly cybercrimes on the Internet,” said Keith Laslop, president of Prolexic Technologies. “Prolexic Technologies in the past has worked closely with U.S. and U.K. law enforcement agencies in regard to tracking DDoS attackers, and was instrumental in the arrest of a high-profile Russian mafia figure that used DDoS to take Web sites hostage until paid a ransom. We have a history of cooperating with law enforcement authorities, and our name will be cleared of any wrong doing.”
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