Betcha.com Online Betting Exchange Owners Surrender to Louisiana

I'm not exactly sure what the guys at Betcha.com were doing, but apparently it's illegal in the eyes of Louisiana. The three men responsible for the operations at pseudo online betting site, Betcha.com - Nick Jenkins, Josie Imlay and Peter Abrahamsen - turned themselves into the Louisiana police after attempts to persuade Washington State's Governor, Christine Gregoire, from signing an extradition warrant failed.

Three more guys arrested for online gambling. In Louisiana. What else is new, right? Well, first of all, I've got to say that Louisiana needs to chill out. What are they trying to prove anyways? Obviously, their past public crackdowns have not done any good to dissuade Louisiana citizens from gambling online. Remember Peter Dicks from Sportingbet who settled with the St. Landry District Attorney's Office for $400K? And guess whose online gambling activities this recent crackdown on Betcha revolve around? Take a real good guess. A Louisiana state trooper. Of all people!

Secondly, I think Louisiana needs to chill out because the particulars of this case are outrageous to me. Not only was this outlaw wrangling sparked by a Louisiana state trooper gambling at Betcha. He apparently lost a whole $0.70.  Louisiana is obviously hurting for some money. Why on Earth they won't just legalize online casino gambling is beyond me?

And what's the deal with Washington? Betcha owner, Nick Jenkins, has been in dispute with the Washington State Gambling Commission since July of this year, when the WSGC shut down his site claiming it was in violation of internet provisions in the Washington Gambling Act. Jenkins argues that his site did not even accept or take bets. It was an exchange betting service that hosted an environment for site user's to place bets against one another. It's like Betfair.com, only smaller. Jenkin's layer, Lee Rousso (who is has a case of his own to legalize online poker in Washington), claims that both Louisiana's and Washington's conspiring has been a "misuse of government resources and power".

Nice one Lee! And as for the Betcha threesome, they had to spend a night in the Louisiana slammer. Or was it a holding cell? Either way, they are fortunately out on bail (not sure how much), and back in Washington awaiting for a January 3, 2008 trial date.

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