Bumper attendance expected in Dublin following sports book arrests this summer
Friday 15th September 2006
Sportingbet chairman Peter Dicks, who was arrested last week at JFK airport, has resigned from his non executive post just minutes before a court hearing in New York City yesterday that approved his release from custody.
In a brief statement issued yesterday Sportingbet confirmed that it had accepted Mr. Dicks’ immediate resignation with ‘great reluctance’, adding that the office of Gov. George E. Pataki of New York had withdrawn a governor’s warrant requesting the transfer of Mr. Dicks to the state of Louisiana, to face charges of ‘gambling by computer’.
After the ten minute hearing, Mr. Dicks was released from custody and is now allowed to fly back to his home in Britain on the condition that he returns to New York on September 28 for a further hearing on his extradition to Louisiana.
Sportingbet said that Mr. Dicks had left to concentrate on personal matters and that a new independent non executive chairman would be appointed in due course. Mr. Dicks declined to comment.
Following the announcement Sportingbet’s shares rose 25 percent to close at 192 pence ($3.60).
