At Least 12 Accused in Fla. Gambling Scam

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - Federal authorities arrested at least a dozen men accused of participating in a betting ring that scammed millions of dollars from gamblers across the country.

The men arrested Thursday face federal charges of conspiracy to transmit wagering information by interstate and foreign wire and conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling enterprise.

If convicted, they face up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Authorities said the men ran the scam under three different businesses in the Fort Myers area: Player's Edge Inc., National Sports Consultants Inc. and Nationwide Sports Inc.
More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3958071,00.html

Edit: Update:http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3958328,00.html

It's so fun. If people want to throw their money away, which they will do anyway, why not make it legal and tax the crap out of it. Help make up some of our monstrous deficits

If you can't find legal gambling opportunities in Florida, then quite frankly you aren't trying, from Hialeah to the Seminoles to the offshore cruises to nowhere, you can find plenty of ways to throw away your money AND contribute to society through this indirect form of taxation. Legal licensed businesses who jump through all the hoops to prove they aren't cheating customers should NOT have to compete with underground unlicensed businesses that out and out steal. One of my friends was robbed of $50,000 by an underground casino in Florida. I'm pretty sure another, maybe several, may have been ripped off by this sport betting ring. Look, you can't have unlicensed, non-taxpaying mobsters (often from other countries, so they're not even spending their money here and contributing to the economy this way) taking the money of American citizens and nothing is ever ever EVER done. Most of the time these criminals get away with it, they are enriched, and Americans are impoverished, and so it goes. There is no good in saying that these underground businesses shouldn't be prosecuted. Legal businesses that pay taxes can NOT compete on a fair playing field with illegal businesses that don't pay taxes.

Now if there weren't tons and tons of gambling opportunities in Florida, not to mention the rest of the Gulf South, your argument might have merit, although I would still want some minimum enforcement -- no underground casinos or sports books in MY neighborhood, thank you, keep the preying on our elders (especially stroke and Alzheimer's victims) to a minimum, and so on.

But to ask a legal industry to compete with an illegal industry...it just isn't fair. Not to the industry. And not to the customer, who is infinitely more likely to be cheated in an underground sports book or casino.


OK, sorry, rant over.

On Edit: Perhaps I should reveal in the interest of full disclosure that BOTH Player's Edge and Nationwide Sports have contacted me in the past offering just what they're accused of, to allow me to place wagers (in violation of United States law) online or over my telephone from Louisiana. In other words, they want me to send money out of my state, which is filled with gambling opportunities (many hurting for income and thus paying less and less in taxes) and send it to some unknown business in Florida or various Caribbean islands. Yeah, like that's gonna happen. They do not disclose that placing online wagers is illegal for American citizens. When confronted, they've sent back messages saying, oh well, maybe it IS illegal in Louisiana. Sorry, guys, federal means federal. Online/telephone wagering across state lines is illegal anywhere in the U.S. I just get tired of the lies. Let the states and Native communities have their income source without the outsiders taking even these pitiful source of revenue offshore...