Sportingbet, Louisiana DA reach "amicable resolution"

Six months after Sportingbet's former non-executive chairman Peter Dicks was arrested in New York, the company has agreed to pay $400,000 to have all charges dropped and outstanding arrest warrants cancelled.

Sportingbet called the agreement an "amicable resolution."

Dicks was arrested in New York on September 5 at Kennedy International Airport on a Louisiana warrant charging violations of the Louisiana Internet Gambling statute. Dicks never faced the charges, as a New York court declined to extradite him.

"Due to the difficulty in obtaining jurisdiction over the defendants, and difficulty in securing evidentiary proof necessary to sustain a criminal prosecution, we have declined to institute prosecution and have cancelled the arrest warrants," said St. Landry Parish District Attorney Earl Taylor in a statement.

The $400,000 settlement is the largest for an Internet gambling related offense in Louisiana. The money will be split by the Louisiana State Police, the Louisiana Attorney General and the St. Landry Parish District Attorney's office for the use of fighting Internet crime.