Sports radio station owners settle federal illegal gambling charges

Three St. Louis-area companies that operate sports radio stations have agreed to pay $158,000 to settle federal charges that they aided in illegal gambling activities, said U.S. Attorney James Martin Friday.

Under the settlement, the three companies - Missouri Sports Radio, Simulcast and All Sports Radio, which operate KFNS-AM, KFNS-FM and KRFT-AM - forfeited proceeds from the promotions of illegal gambling activities. In addition, the companies agreed to provide evidence in ongoing, related investigations.

KFNS 590 AM, known as The Fan, and KRFT 1190 AM, known as The Zone, were sold earlier this year to Big League Broadcasting of Atlanta for $11.5 million.

Martin said the three companies knowingly received thousands of dollars in funds derived from illegal offshore and online gambling activities from mid-2000 through September 2003.


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Yeah sure, Ass-croft isn't a threat to us. He had his old pals back in his home state get this whole thing running and now spine-less companies are bowing to the government in an incredibly dubious manner. At least Casino City is standing up to them, but this stuff is nothing short of scary as it is the US government holding up the media for ransom in their morality crusade. Pure and simple.

Am I the only one that doesn't see what is wrong with accepting ad money?

Wild Bill, why aren't there any industry groups trying to stand up to this? Casino City, BOS are but that is not what I would call an efficient political or legal attack.

If people don't get their ass in gear we are going to be staring down the wrong end of a court case which might very well define a lot of this stuff for years.

I am shocked this and the similar incidents over the past few months have not had to withstand a strong legal challenge.

ACLU have any interest in this stuff?

Anyone trying to get some kind of organized attack together? This is the one place where the "watchdogs" might be able to actually do something substantial.

I saw that story as well.

Appparantly the news service that distributed this story (AP?) bought the distorted government line that offshore gambling sites are "illegal. "

As far as current Federal law is concerned, offshore sportsbooks are no more "illegal" than Vegas Sportsbooks. While it is illegal for Nevada Books to take out of state bets via phone or internet, no such federal statutes exist for offshore books.

The federal government is using strong-arm harassment to quelsh offshore advertising. No one has ever been found guilty for advertising offshore books, although government harassment, including confiscation of funds, has effectively eliminated it from all major broadcast and print media, and most major US-based websites.

Conservative Republicans used to talk about the court system being mis-used in setting policy. Apparantly that is only true when the policy is liberal. Conservative values can be imposed by the Bush administration via any big government tactics they want, whether its withholding appropriated funds for liberal causes such as pollution control and enforcement of federal land use, or via extra-legal harrassment via federal grand juries.

^^^