LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL EDITORIAL: Internet gambling

[clevfan]

Aug. 17, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

EDITORIAL: Internet gambling


Americans on the fence when it comes to the legality of Internet gambling might want to ponder the case of 48-year-old David Carruthers.

Until Wednesday, Mr. Carruthers had been in a St. Louis jail for nearly a month. After posting a $1 million bond this week -- and agreeing to confinement in a hotel room until his trial -- Mr. Carruthers was released.

His crime?

He is the CEO of BetonSports, an Internet gambling operation based in Great Britain and run out of Costa Rica.

Such an operation is completely legal in those countries. But Mr. Carruthers was arrested by federal authorities during a stopover at a Dallas airport while he was changing planes on the way to Costa Rica. He faces a 22-count indictment related to accepting bets from the United States.

The prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway in St. Louis, based the indictment on a vague federal law dating to the early 1960s that makes it illegal to transmit betting information over the phone.

Whether the law was intended to apply to Internet gambling today remains a matter of debate -- and an issue unresolved in the courts.

But that didn't stop the overzealous Ms. Hanaway from undertaking this prosecution -- and going after Mr. Carruthers.

Make no mistake: Similar federal cases will become common if Congress succeeds in passing laws prohibiting individuals from deciding whether to partake in Internet gambling -- because the demand for online gambling isn't going away.

So is using time and treasure to harass people such as David Carruthers -- who are his victims, by the way? -- really how we want federal law enforcement officials to direct their resources?