As online poker inches toward legal acceptance, online sports betting is expressly denied legality in every current well-supported legislative option legalizing online gambling.   The favorable treatment of poker is a result of a well-organized lobby, with poker stars testifying on Capitol Hill and lobbyists engaging legislators.  The Poker Players’ Alliance, a lobbying group backed by poker sites, is headed by a former US Senator Al D’Amato, adding credibility and visibility. 

Why is there no similar representation for online sports betting? 

Ask David Carruthers.

Carruthers, a veteran of the British gaming industry, was hired away from Ladbrokes in 2000 to be CEO of online wagering company BetOnSports.  Founded by Americans, BetOnSports had a British corporate structure, operatings in Costa Rica and a listing on the London Stock Exchange.  Carruthers accepted an invitation to debate then-Congressman Jim Leach on The Wall Street Journal editorial page.  The reasonably polite, fairly respectful debate was published in The Journal on April 4, 2006.

73 days later, on July 16, 2006, Carruthers was arrested at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport while changing planes on a flight from his home in London to his company’s offices in Costa Rica.   The charges?  No more than being the CEO of a sports book that accepted bets from US customers.   The same description fit 100 other guys, including American founders of online sports books who traveled freely in and out of the US.   But Carruthers was the one that was arrested.

This April Carruthers finally pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against company founder Gary Kaplan.  It is expected that he will be free to return home before the end of the year.

The investigation into BetOnSports had been going on for a while, but just over two months after some high profile media advocacy, Carruthers, a London resident employed by a British company with operations in Costa Rica, is arrested and over three years later is still not free?

Not exactly encouraging to anyone thinking about stepping up to be the voice of the online sports betting industry, is it?