While David Carruthers waits for his bail hearing in Texas later this afternoon,
eGaming Review has spoken to another source at the US Department of Justice (DoJ) who played down fears of an industry crackdown.
Jaclyn Lesch, spokesperson for the DoJ, said the indictment against BetonSports was consistent with previous US policy, and emphasised that the DoJ did not intend to go after all US-facing operators.
Her comments come after a traumatic week for the company (detailed in the BetonSports Special articles to be found on
www.egrmagazine.com). The BetonSports indictment has overshadowed the industry for the whole week, with PartyGaming chief executive Mitch Garber having to answer questions regarding the issue in his company’s analyst conference this morning.
The BetonSports share price has been suspended all week, but the rest of the sector has suffered in its stead with US-facing sportsbooks operators suffering the worst of the trouble. Sportingbet lost over 50% of its market cap this week and as of lunchtime Friday its share price stood at 164p. Leisure & Gaming, meanwhile, saw its share price fall to 73.5p.
In comparison, PartyGaming rallied somewhat in the wake of its results and stood at 91.5p as of Friday lunchtime.
The ramifications of the BetonSports indictments have been far-ranging. It was reported today that the company’s brokers, Evolution, was receiving criticism over its handling of the original float. Elsewhere, Bodog postponed its marketing conference due to take place in Las Vegas this coming weekend due to the number of cancellations.