Court allows former Sportingbet executive to return to Britain

A New York judge dismissed the arrest warrant for the former chairman of British online gambling firm Sportingbet, allowing him to return to Britain, a Reuters report said.

 

The Reuters report said the ruling ends three weeks of uncertainty for Peter Dicks, who was arrested in New York on September 7 under a warrant issued by the state of Louisiana charging him with 'gambling by computer.'

 

The withdrawal of the warrant in New York signals that the United States' clampdown on Internet gambling may not be as harsh as some had feared, the Reuters report said.

 

According to one of Dicks' lawyers, New York State Governor George Pataki refused to sign an order to extradite Dicks to Louisiana to face the charges against him, the euters report said.

Louisiana's warrant to arrest Dicks on the same charges remains active, the lawyer said.