Dikshit Pleads Guilty

December 21, 2008

Online gambling supporters are upset over the recent decision by Party Gaming co-founder to plead guilty to online gambling charges. Anurag Dikshit has allegedly agreed to plead guilty to taking US wagers over the internet in the past.

Dikshit is a co-founder of the online gambling company, and holds a 27% stake in it. He allegedly has also agreed to cooperate with the US Department of Justice�s investigations regarding online gambling and to pay a �300 million fine. He is scheduled to appear in Southern District Court in New York today, and no plea bargain has been reached. Dikshit could be facing up to two years of jail for his online gambling involvement.

This means a lot for online gambling as a whole. For all of those that have been pursued by the US DOJ, both individuals and companies, this is a big step towards confirming the belief that online gambling should be illegal. PartyGaming is not the only online gambling site that has been talking with US officials � as 888 and Sportingbet have allegedly been speaking with them about it as well.

The other two PartyGaming co-founders, Ruth Parasol and Russ DeLeon have not yet decided to settle with the government yet. They both own 14% of the online gambling company. With many believing that online gambling will be legal at some point under Barack Obama, some think that it is simply a waiting game for now. It can only be assumed that Dikshit is hoping to avoid jail time and thus this is the reason for the online gambling confession.





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