Betcha.com Owner Arrested

October 19, 2007

Nick Jenkins, Betcha.com owner, and two others that worked for the company voluntarily flew to Louisiana and turned themselves in to the police on Wednesday. Jenkins is charged with running an illegal online gambling website, as are Josie Imlay and Peter Abrahamsen – who turned themselves in with him.

If they are convicted, the men could face up to five years in prison and fines of up to $20,000 each, as online gambling is considered a Class C felony in the state of Washington. The site was run out of Seattle, Washington, but Louisiana got involved when one of their troopers was able to make an online bet through the site.

The online gambling site was only up and running for a few short weeks before the state closed it down, and Jenkins insists that they were not doing anything wrong. The online gambling site does not accept bets from their customers, but allows them to bet with each other. Jenkins had been asking the governor not to allow an extradition to Louisiana, but the governor denied his request.

As soon as the bet was successfully completed on the site, the state trooper issued a warrant for Jenkins arrest, which is why he ended up in Louisiana. The site makes money off of the bets that are made on it, even though they do not accept bets themselves. Each of their players, or bettors if you will, would post or accept a bet that appeared on the online gambling site. The company receives a percentage of the bet, which is how they make their money.

In the case of the state trooper’s bet, the one that ended up in Jenkins being arrested, the company made $0.70 off of the actual bet.





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