Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
This is absolutely outrageous. A reader sent me this report by email about BetonSports, an online gambling site that is based in the UK. The report is from MarketWatch:
Shares of online-gaming operators based in Britain dropped Monday, after BetOnSports' chief executive was detained while switching flights in the United States, raising the prospect that American authorities are moving to crack down on overseas Web sites that allow U.S. citizens to bet illegally...The board of BetOnSports said in a statement it was seeking "clarification" on the move. David Davidson, assistant chief deputy of the U.S. Marshals Service, confirmed that Carruthers was arrested at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Sunday, after an arrest warrant was issued by another district. Davidson said that the charge was related to illegal gambling, but he didn't have the full details. Carruthers was due to face a judge Monday afternoon,
he added.
Bear in mind that the Goodlatte bill hasn't isn't even law yet and they're already engaging in vast overreach by arresting foreign citizens for doing something perfectly legal in their countries, and they're doing it when they just have a flight stop over in the US! This has gone entirely too far and the law hasn't even passed yet. In fact, it's not likely to pass. They're doing this just based on a DOJ interpretation of the Wire Act, which was clearly not intended to outlaw online gambling. I can't tell you how angry I am right now.
Comments
Ed, how does the US have jurisdiction. How does this action square with the 6th amendment requirement that one be charged "in the district wherein the crime shall have been committed" ?
Posted by: John | July 17, 2006 2:45 PM
So let me get this straight: The guy is a UK citizen, runs a UK based company with a UK based website, and he gets arrested in America because Americans are gambling on his website. Surely that's illegal under international law.
Posted by: Chris Hyland | July 17, 2006 3:17 PM
That is outrageous. I can only hope the British government does something about this.
Posted by: Albert | July 17, 2006 3:30 PM
What are the odds he takes them to the cleaners?
Posted by: Rich | July 17, 2006 3:58 PM
Ed: "I can't tell you how angry I am right now."
I can't imagine you not making the effort though...
Posted by: dogscratcher | July 17, 2006 5:01 PM
Sounds rather like that Dmitry Sklyarov case a few years back. What a crock.
Posted by: pough | July 17, 2006 5:10 PM
I can only hope the British government does something about this
Hardly; the UK has just extradited three UK citizens to the US under the terms of a treaty which the US hasn't even ratified yet. This led to the early closing of Parliament last week in a symbolic protest:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5171266.stm
Posted by: Bartholomew | July 18, 2006 3:38 AM
Ed,
I sent it to you because I am pissed at his arrest. I use BetOnSports.com to get the lines for NFL to help decide which RB/QB/WR/TE to start in Fantasy Football, and to help choose in the NCAA pool (No, I actually don't just choose Duke to win it all every time). I wold hate to see the site blocked in the US or similar sites blocked in the US
Posted by: mess | July 18, 2006 8:12 AM