Arizona's Gambling Battle: 3

The cases that we have seen in the State of Arizona involving illegal online casino activity and how fairness needs to play a factor, we get a better idea on why the cases we have seen are taking so long to some to a conclusion. As we discussed in our previous article, James Bennit made some pretty bold claims against the attorney that is in charge of his prosecution. In the month of September, Bennit’s case was remanded. In regards to his claims that the attorney prosecuting him made false statements about him to the grand jury, the County Attorney’s Office dismissed his claims as being just that and that they have little to no merit so they shall have nothing to do with this case.

The County Attorney’s Office had some comments to make about previous inquiries such as the pile of misdemeanors that were dropped. A spokesman for the Attorney’s Office in this online casino debacle, Barnett Lotstein stated simply that when they brought the charges forward, they had a “viable argument”. This case is not something that is new to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, this case goes all the way back to Spring of 2007. Back then it was shocking news that people were really concerned about. The Sheriff’s Office broke up what was accused of being four possibly related online casino rings that were operating online casinos out of Costa Rica.

Online casinos are legal in Costa Rica. Where the law breaking comes into place is if it is indeed being operated out of the United States. If they were the courts needed to find out if the transactions were done electronically or in person. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office have been investigating this online casino ring for years before these charges came to pass.