Every once in awhile something happens that changes the course of history:

Antonio Meucci and Alexander Bell (and possibly others) contributed to the telephone, which was essential to the evolution of communication.

NFL coach Bill Walsh implemented an offensive scheme which relied on short passes and set routes and was the blueprint for the West Coast Offense, which many offensive coordinators still use today.

While the legal saga involving the United States and beleaguered sportsbook BetonSports won’t help people on opposite ends of the earth communicate, or revolutionize offensive play calling in pro football, many interested observers will be watching the unfolding drama with great interest as it could affect law in Roe vs. Wade-like fashion.

“I think any ruling in any online gambling case will affect the industry in general and the legal landscape regarding U.S. law as applicable to online gambling,” online gaming specialist and attorney Lawrence Walters told WinnerOnline.

“These are all issues of first impression for the court—they haven’t been decided before and any court that has an opportunity to address online gambling issues in the U.S. at this point is really writing on a blank slate.”

For the most part, the United States has never looked kindly on sports betting especially if it’s over the internet—which was BetonSports’ bread and butter.

In June of 2006, they unsealed an indictment against the company citing violations of Racketeer Influenced Criminal Organizations act, tax evasion and mail fraud. Furthermore they arrested BoS’ CEO David Carruthers, who was subsequently fired as CEO and is currently living under house arrest in St. Louis, MO.

This past March, original BetonSports founder Gary Kaplan—who was on the lam from the same U.S. Government for similar charges—was arrested by authorities in the Dominican Republic and sent back to the United States.

The latest development sees the company pleading guilty to the racketeering charges and supplying witnesses in the cases against Kaplan and Carruthers.

Kaplan has a long rap sheet when it comes to illegal gambling, so he’s probably been in the crosshairs of the Dept. of Justice for sometime, but the indictment of the seemingly clean cut Carruthers seems a little surprising, but the U.S. government has a different view of the ex-CEO of BetonSports.

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