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<TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 width=605 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle colSpan=2>[SIZE=+3]BetonSports operation here is closing down[/SIZE]
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Employees of BetonSports gathered in small groups at Mall San Pedro Thursday as they learned that the company would shut down.
Many of the employees had been furloughed since the U.S. government unsealed a 22-count indictment against the firm, its executives and shareholders July 17. But their discussions Thursday centered on if the company would pay the severance money required by Costa Rican law.
Usually an employee who is fired or laid off is entitled to a month's pay for every year worked, vacation pay, salary due plus a proportion of the annual Christmas bonus.
Also involved were individuals who worked for Millennium, a sportsbook that operated with BetonSports. In all, the firm has bragged in the past that some 2,000 persons, mostly bilingual Costa Ricans and North Americans, worked at the companies in sprawling offices at the mall. The company also does business under other names and Web sites.
Also up in the air are the thousands of bettors, mostly from the United States, who had accounts with the company. They can only hope that the firm makes good on its debts. The accounts contain deposits made in anticipation of future bets and winnings.
The U.S. indictment said that between Feb. 3, 2003, and Feb. 1, 2004, BetonSports and its related companies took in $1.23 billion in wagers. That would represent about $100 million in bets a month.
The employees were not in a generous mood Thursday. Most felt that BetonSports would fail to pay the severance money. Some had been expecting bank deposits.
The Ministerio de Trabajo confirmed Thursday afternoon that investigators have been looking into the affairs of the company for about a week. A spokesperson said the ministry initiated the probe instead of waiting for complaints. The ministry is in charge of enforcing the labor laws.
A spokesperson for the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social said that agency had no knowledge of any developments at the
</TD><TD vAlign=top width=300>company. The Caja receives payments from employers and provides the health, pension and other social security benefits to employees.
There was no confirmation of the closing from the company, which declined comment. But many of the employees who mingled in the mall office confirmed what they had been told in meetings with bosses. The Web site has not operated for three weeks.
The U.S. federal indictment charged 11 individuals and four corporations on various charges of racketeering, conspiracy and fraud. The U.S. government seeks $3.3 billion in back taxes on wagers taken from the United States and $4.5 billion more from other defendants as individuals.
Costa Rica might have trouble finding local assets to use to pay the sportsbook employees. According to the indictment, deposits for bets went to Ecuador, Belize and other countries but not to Costa Rica. This was the electronic hub of the British corporation but it was not the banking center. The bulk of the assets here are computers in the multi-floored Mall San Pedro operation.
Internationally, the U.S. government is likely to freeze the company's overseas accounts before Costa Rica locates them. One stipulation of the civil order that accompanied the indictment is that the firm return any funds of U.S. citizens that it holds.
At the mall, Costa Rican officials might be hard-pressed to find out who is in charge. David Carruthers, the former general manager, is in jail in the U.S. State of Missouri. He was named in the indictment and is trying to make $1 million cash bail. He is a British subject and was arrested in Texas while changing planes on a return trip from London. The company said that he had been fired.
Carruthers was an outspoken advocate of legalizing Internet gambling and even wrote an opinion piece to that effect for the Los Angeles Times earlier this year.
The U.S. Justice Department says that Internet gambling is illegal. Sportsbooks here dispute that and until the crackdown last month on BetonSports, many executives here thought they were invulnerable to U.S. criminal and civil action.
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<SMALL><SMALL>A.M. Costa Rica/Saray Ramírez Vindas</SMALL></SMALL>
</TD><TD vAlign=center width=150>Sportsbook employees gather in small groups at Mall San Pedro Thursday trying to find out about their salaries and their future.
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<TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 width=605 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle colSpan=2>[SIZE=+3]BetonSports operation here is closing down[/SIZE]
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By José Pablo Ramírez Vindas
and the A.M. Costa Rica staff
and the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Employees of BetonSports gathered in small groups at Mall San Pedro Thursday as they learned that the company would shut down.
Many of the employees had been furloughed since the U.S. government unsealed a 22-count indictment against the firm, its executives and shareholders July 17. But their discussions Thursday centered on if the company would pay the severance money required by Costa Rican law.
Usually an employee who is fired or laid off is entitled to a month's pay for every year worked, vacation pay, salary due plus a proportion of the annual Christmas bonus.
Also involved were individuals who worked for Millennium, a sportsbook that operated with BetonSports. In all, the firm has bragged in the past that some 2,000 persons, mostly bilingual Costa Ricans and North Americans, worked at the companies in sprawling offices at the mall. The company also does business under other names and Web sites.
Also up in the air are the thousands of bettors, mostly from the United States, who had accounts with the company. They can only hope that the firm makes good on its debts. The accounts contain deposits made in anticipation of future bets and winnings.
The U.S. indictment said that between Feb. 3, 2003, and Feb. 1, 2004, BetonSports and its related companies took in $1.23 billion in wagers. That would represent about $100 million in bets a month.
The employees were not in a generous mood Thursday. Most felt that BetonSports would fail to pay the severance money. Some had been expecting bank deposits.
The Ministerio de Trabajo confirmed Thursday afternoon that investigators have been looking into the affairs of the company for about a week. A spokesperson said the ministry initiated the probe instead of waiting for complaints. The ministry is in charge of enforcing the labor laws.
A spokesperson for the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social said that agency had no knowledge of any developments at the
</TD><TD vAlign=top width=300>company. The Caja receives payments from employers and provides the health, pension and other social security benefits to employees.
There was no confirmation of the closing from the company, which declined comment. But many of the employees who mingled in the mall office confirmed what they had been told in meetings with bosses. The Web site has not operated for three weeks.
The U.S. federal indictment charged 11 individuals and four corporations on various charges of racketeering, conspiracy and fraud. The U.S. government seeks $3.3 billion in back taxes on wagers taken from the United States and $4.5 billion more from other defendants as individuals.
Costa Rica might have trouble finding local assets to use to pay the sportsbook employees. According to the indictment, deposits for bets went to Ecuador, Belize and other countries but not to Costa Rica. This was the electronic hub of the British corporation but it was not the banking center. The bulk of the assets here are computers in the multi-floored Mall San Pedro operation.
Internationally, the U.S. government is likely to freeze the company's overseas accounts before Costa Rica locates them. One stipulation of the civil order that accompanied the indictment is that the firm return any funds of U.S. citizens that it holds.
At the mall, Costa Rican officials might be hard-pressed to find out who is in charge. David Carruthers, the former general manager, is in jail in the U.S. State of Missouri. He was named in the indictment and is trying to make $1 million cash bail. He is a British subject and was arrested in Texas while changing planes on a return trip from London. The company said that he had been fired.
Carruthers was an outspoken advocate of legalizing Internet gambling and even wrote an opinion piece to that effect for the Los Angeles Times earlier this year.
The U.S. Justice Department says that Internet gambling is illegal. Sportsbooks here dispute that and until the crackdown last month on BetonSports, many executives here thought they were invulnerable to U.S. criminal and civil action.
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