Internet Gambling:BetED DoJ First Scalp

BetED sportsbook is officially the first U.S-facing gambling business that has been compelled by U.S prosecutors to close its doors.

An industry source in Costa Rica notified the U.S authorities to seize its bank accounts causing the site to be incapable to transact business or to pay its players.

BetED is one of the sportsbooks that have been implicated after an extensive federal sting operation “trying to expose internet casinos that use third-party payment processors in the United States”, based on an affidavit submitted that supports the Baltimore Grand Jury indictments for money laundering and unlawful gambling against two cybergaming casinos and three persons unsealed on Tuesday. Eleven bank accounts and 10 internet domain names which belong to these internet casinos were seized as well.

According to Homeland Security Investigations special agent testimony, Lisa M Ward states that, BetED purportedly used a payment processor set up by the U.S Department of Homeland Security in the name of Linwood Payment Systems to transfer millions of dollars to bank accounts in Panama.

The sworn affidavit also outlines the period of December 2009 and January 2011, which saw Linwood supposedly wire transfer approximately 300,000 transactions worth US$33m on behalf of several internet poker sites, the likes of Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet, top managers who were also found guilty of money laundering and illicit gambling charges on Black Friday.

The accusation for money laundering and the running of an illicit online gambling site against ThrillX Systems, “operating as” BetED, two Canadians, Darren Wright and David Parchomchuk. They wired stupendous amounts of cash to the U.S through a Linwood Systems bank account in the U.S Pacific territory of Guam to a ThrillX Systems account at Credicorp bank in Panama. On Tuesday these accounts were seized causing BetED to close down shop.