Washington - The founder of online gambling company BetOnSports pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in a federal court, the US Justice Department announced on Friday
Gary Kaplan, 50, agreed to plead guilty to violating anti-fraud and tax evasion laws and will forfeit more than $43-million (about R344-million) "in criminal proceeds" to the United States, the department said in a statement.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 27 and the plea deal means he will receive a sentence of between 41 and 51 months in prison.
Kaplan acknowledged that the company he founded had set up a system intended to circumvent US laws preventing online gambling.
"Gary Kaplan made million of dollars by making it too easy for people to gamble away their hard earned money without having to leave their homes," said John Gillies, a FBI agent involved in the case.
In April, the former chief executive officer of the company, David Carruthers, 51, accepted a plea deal that guarantees he will be sentenced to no more than 33 months in prison.
The Justice Department said Carruthers had developed BetOnSports "through a pattern of racketeering acts" including mail fraud and money laundering and making false representations.
"They failed to disclose known material facts, namely that the US government and most state governments viewed such operations as illegal, and that they did not have a license to operate legally anywhere in the United States," it said.
Most publicly traded British gaming firms have quit the US market following passage of a US law that bars banks and credit card firms from processing payments linked to online gambling.
The United States has stepped up a crackdown on Internet gambling, claiming that even sites operating from offshore violate US laws by taking wagers from Americans. - AFP