In what is seen as a final token punitive action against the now defunct BetonSports plc, a Missouri court has this week handed down a $28 million fine and five years probation to the former online gaming operator.
With the company now in liquidation and players still awaiting the return of deposited funds, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Holtshouser admits that the fine is unlikely to ever be paid.
Lawyer’s representing the company also doubt the payment of the fine. BetOnSports lawyer Jeffrey Demerath told the St. Louis Post that there are only several millions in assets versus the tens of millions in liabilities for the company. “The liquidators are in the process of trying to collect what will likely amount to only a few million dollars more,” he said.
BetonSports founder Gary Kaplan was sentenced by the same court in early November to over four years in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $43 million of criminal proceeds from the online gambling business. Kaplan’s sentencing followed that of his brother and sister, Neil Scott Kaplan and Lori Beth Kaplan-Multz, who avoided imprisonment in June of this year by pleading guilty to felony racketeering charges and agreeing to forfeit approximately $7 million.