Online Gambling BetOnSports Founder Kaplan Pleads Guilty

First it was PartyGaming's founder and now BetOnSports founder Gary Kaplan has joined the growing group of online gambling site owners who have plead guilty in the US. Kaplan plead guilty to several charges on Friday.

Federal racketeering was one of the charges and according to the plea deal that was reached with prosecutors, he will forfeit more than half of his net worth. Kaplan has agreed to pay $43.6 million to the US government. The funds have already been transferred from a Swiss bank account.

Kaplan was one of the pioneers in an online gambling industry that now brings in billions of dollars annually. He founded BetOnSports back in 1995, and it grew to be one of the biggest online gaming operations in the world.

BetOnSports opened a whole new way for gamblers in the US to place their bets. Up until Kaplan's site surfaced, gamblers would have to make their bets either by flying to Las Vegas, or with local illegal bookies.

Kaplan gave them a way that they could place their bets either on the Internet or by phone. he set up his operation in Costa Rica, and grew the site. He was indicted in 2006 by a federal grand jury and acknowledged his crimes on Friday.

"I accept responsibility for my actions and I realize that as a US citizen, I should have abided by US law," said Kaplan, "Nevertheless, I do not agree with the US stance against offshore telephone and Internet sports betting, but I do accept full responsibility for my decisions."

The next step for Kaplan will be sentencing. He is not expected to spend much more time behind bars. Kaplan already has served twenty-nine months in prison since his 2007 arrest in the case. The prosecution and defense attorneys are asking the judge that Kaplan be sentenced to forty-one to fifty-one months in jail.

August 14, 2009
Posted By Larry Rutherford
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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