Jacktrade LLC enters guilty plea in illegal sports betting case

In a deal with federal prosecutors, a gaming developer company known as Jacktrade LLC has forfeited more than $2 million in seized assets and pleaded guilty to an illegal gambling charge related to offshore sports wagering.

The defunct Las Vegas-based firm pleaded guilty last week in U.S. District Court to one count of interstate transmission wagering. The company admitted that it violated the federal Wire Act in 2007. The law prohibits Internet gambling on sports, according to a recent U.S. Department of Justice opinion.

Prosecutors said wagers on sports were illegally routed through offshore sites on the island of Curacao in the Caribbean.

Daniel Bogden, the U.S. attorney for Nevada, said that because illegal operators aren't regulated at the same level as traditional, brick-and-mortar casinos, prohibiting illegal gaming is necessary to protect consumers, while deterring money laundering and underage gambling.

"Such illegal gaming operations take business from legal gaming operators, preventing state and local governments from receiving important tax revenues, and serve as a major source of income for organized crime groups both in the United States and abroad," Bogden said in a statement released Wednesday.

The case is unrelated to the arrests last month of 25 people involved in an online sports betting ring. Those arrested, on indictments issued by the Queens, N.Y., district attorney, included Mike Colbert, a former vice president with Cantor Gaming.

Colbert's next court appearance in Las Vegas is scheduled for Monday . He remains free on $50,000 bail.

As part of the nine-page plea agreement, Jacktrade agreed to forfeit more than $2 million in cash and other assets seized almost six years ago.

Jacktrade was charged Oct. 24 in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, but the case was sealed. The case became public with the Nov. 19 guilty plea.

Messages left with Louis Tavano, president of Jacktrade, were not returned. Tavano was one of three owners of International Racing Group Services Inc., IRG, with Richard Tavano and James Scott.

The company's attorney, Richard Wright, was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

Prosecutors describe IRG as "an offshore race book." After it was sold to YouBet.Com Inc. in 2005, IRG's owners had an incentive to maintain a successful betting business because they would receive a higher price from Youbet.com, the plea agreement said.

Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at csieroty@reviewjournal.
com or 702-477-3893. Follow @sierotyfeatures on Twitter.