Jim Kelly's ties to sports gaming on Internet raise eyebrows

[clevfan]

Kelly's ties to sports gaming on Internet raise eyebrows

By MARK GAUGHAN
Buffalo News Sports Reporter
11/17/2005

Buffalo Bills great Jim Kelly has endorsed products ranging from pain relievers to phone service to pizza in his career as a celebrity spokesperson. But his latest business relationship has raised some eyebrows.
The Hall of Fame quarterback has lent his name to an Internet sports gambling site called SportsInteraction.com.

"I have always been involved with the best of the best, and am proud to be associated with Sports Interaction, the best in online sports books," says Kelly on the Web site.

Kelly is among an increasing number of celebrities who have signed endorsement deals with online casinos or sports books. They include actors Tom Arnold and James Woods, former basketball player Dennis Rodman and model Brooke Burke. Former basketball players Julius Erving and Moses Malone have lent their names to poker tournaments sponsored by online casinos.

The association could be considered risky business. The position of the U.S. government is that such Internet sports books are violating American law by providing unlicensed gambling on domestic shores. The government has stated that it could prosecute Americans who promote and assist such foreign operations for what amounts to aiding and abetting their illegal activities.

However, it is not believed that the U.S. government ever has pursued a case against any endorser of such a business.

Some of the popular sites are located in Costa Rica. The Sports Interaction firm is located in Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, a Native American reserve near Montreal, Canada.

A spokesperson for Kelly Enterprise said neither Kelly nor the company would have any comment on the subject. A source close to Kelly said the former quarterback sees nothing wrong with the connection.

Internet gambling is a multibillion-dollar business, the popularity of which has skyrocketed with the advent of poker games on cable television. Overseas casinos are legal and licensed in dozens of foreign countries. Some casinos in Great Britain are listed on public stock exchanges.

If Kelly was still an active player in the National Football League, he would not be allowed to endorse any gambling operation, under league policy.

Some celebrities have out-clauses in their contracts with the casinos should the U.S. Justice Department pursue their association. Kelly told the New York Times that when he signed the contract, he was told he would be held harmless for any legal problems.

"I would never do anything that would jeopardize my name and what I do and what I stand for," Kelly told the Times.

A veteran prosecutor from Buffalo who is an expert in federal gambling laws said he does not know whether SportsInteraction.com is, or ever has been under investigation.

But the prosecutor - Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony M. Bruce - said he has won convictions against the operators of offshore, online sports betting casinos, including one in Costa Rica.

"For the person who is betting, it's not illegal," Bruce said. "But for the person who is running an offshore bookmaking operation on the Internet, it violates both New York State and federal laws."

In February 2001, Frank Masterana, 71, pleaded guilty in Buffalo to a felony gambling conspiracy count. He was sentenced to a year in prison. Bruce said Masterana was involved with people in Buffalo, running a Costa Rica-based sports book that claimed it was legal for people in Western New York to bet on sports over the Internet.

"These operations set up offshore, hoping to distance themselves from American law enforcement, but it's illegal activity," Bruce said.

Are celebrity endorsers like Kelly ever indicted in such cases?

"I'm not aware of any cases where celebrity endorsers have been charged, but I couldn't totally rule it out," Bruce said. "If you participate in a criminal activity in any way, you could possibly expose yourself to a prosecution under federal conspiracy laws."


News staff reporter Dan Herbeck contributed to this report.

[chris@thegreek]

Dumb Move by Jim

[Mr. Baseball]

Does he really need the money that bad?

[JoeyrollNy]

I would like to see the Gov't go after these big names. Why is it they only go after the little guy. I would like to see them try an stick it to him.

[jimmy the greek]

nothing wrong with a retired athlete working for a legally operating enterprise, it is the usa crusading government whackos position on internet gambling that is at odds with reality

sometimes it takes rebels to change the laws

[dutchBulldog]

The guy's always had the ethics of a snake so why should the endorsement of a 4th rate sportsbook suprise anybody. Does anybody over the age of ten think he really used all the products he has endorsed?!

[victorygallop]

i think comparing Frank Masterana, 71 of Buffalo, to the company Jim Kelly is with is a little off base.

[leoj2002]

Originally posted by: clevfan
Kelly's ties to sports gaming on Internet raise eyebrows

By MARK GAUGHAN
Buffalo News Sports Reporter
11/17/2005


The Sports Interaction firm is located in Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, a Native American reserve near Montreal, Canada.








News staff reporter Dan Herbeck contributed to this report.

think he meant to say Native Canadian reserve[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

Frankie Masterana deserves more than a year in the can. The dude is a bad news BM who has been stiffing guys for decades.

[clevfan]

Kelly venture with Web site not worth it

11/18/2005
BUFFALO NEWS

By BOB DICESARE

Who do you like this weekend, Jim Kelly? Give me some guidance. Who do you think scores first in the Indy-Cincinnati game, and is it a touchdown, a field goal or a safety? What will be the highest scoring quarter in New England against New Orleans? Do you have any insight on that one? It's a toughie, but I'm intrigued.
Come on now, Jimbo. Don't hold back. Give me the dope. My faith is with you after reading your welcome message on the bookie's Web site, a profile that concludes with you urging clients to gamble responsibly. So I'm figuring you must know something I don't, you being a Hall of Fame quarterback and all, because it never dawned on me that betting that a safety will account for the first points an NFL game could be construed as a responsible wager. But at 5,000-to-1, I'm more than a little bit interested.

Give me some direction, Jimbo. Point me toward the land of financial independence. Baby needs a new pair of shoes.

People are saying they can't understand why you're dirtying your name, sullying your reputation, to raise some fun money by pimping for an illegal Internet gambling operation. They're wondering why someone of your stature would stoop to such an endeavor when just being Jim Kelly is still worth $1 million a year without playing cutesy with the law.

I'm not one of those people. I think I understand your motivations. Greed and ego in tandem are a potent combination. We learned that when your fling with the restaurant busted and you left all those vendors hanging, hid behind the corporate structure, even though you had the wherewithal and then some to make good on the debts. That escapade brushed more than a little taint on your image as a blue-collar kind of guy, just one of us.

I'd urge you to think twice about this new venture, except that would assume you've thought about it once, and I'm not ready to take that leap. So proud are you of your association with the cyber underworld that your only comment through a spokesperson is no comment. Now there's a ringing endorsement. Where do I sign up?

So certain are you this is all on the personal up-and-up that your contract with the company ostensibly grants you absolution in the event legal problems arise. Which strikes me as kind of odd, something like the drug peddler telling the distributor, "If I get nabbed, you take the hit." Do you think, if the feds call in all the chips, that this little side agreement secures you any legal leniency? Register me as skeptical.

I keep waiting for the hammer to come down on all these Internet books that have evaded the law through the luxury of distance. You have to figure they're next up on the agenda, Congress finally having resolved baseball's steroids scandal to its liking.

Doesn't it make sense there would be a federal crackdown on enterprises that illegally shift multi-millions out of the country? You'd have to admit, offshore gambling's an easier mark than the drug trade. And when it happens, what makes for bigger headlines? Tossing out the unrecognizable names of the bookmakers, or simultaneously roasting the feet of the celebrities so willing to make a quick and easy buck as absentee touts? Believe me, the feds weren't after Victor Conte.

Come on, Jim, I know you're smarter than this. If you can read a zone blitz in a millisecond you should be able to recognize that this is a throw into triple-coverage, disaster waiting to happen. It's shady as it is, luring people into long-term no-win propositions offered by casinos and bookmakers alike. Doubly so when it's illegal to begin with. Think about it. Would you front for a Buffalo book if the price was right. Can't see it.

You need the money? We'll pass the hat. The Wall of Fame already has its fill of scandal.

[The Actuary]

I got an email fr Phil Villipiano this past week,

I had to LOL, find it hard to believe many of the new younger guys even know who he is.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[Bostongambler]

Not that he was going to be working for the NFL anyway. But if he ever thought about it he can kiss that idea away.

Remember Willie Mays, he was working for a casino and major league baseball washed their hands of him. Sort of speak.

[SlipperyPete]

I have no problem with Jim being a schill for a book but why SPORTSINTERACTION?!?!?!?!??!?!?!!?

[Marsellus]

I think the guy had the balls to endorse offshore wagering. Good for him

[Mr Memory]

Believe Frank M is in Nevada's Black Book. Correct me, if I'm wrong.

[Total Square]

Originally posted by: Mr Memory
Believe Frank M is in Nevada's Black Book. Correct me, if I'm wrong.

you are correct





Masterana was added to the list in 1988 after a string of bookmaking convictions throughout the country. Masterana has bookmaking (or related charges) in Ohio, California (twice), Georgia, Nevada (twice) and Pennsylvania. Masterana is also considered to be an organized crime associate. Masterana is currently operating a sports book in the Dominican Republic.