Online Poker Parent Suspends Shares

64-year-old Peter Dicks was recently arrested in the USA on anti-gaming charges, sparking a panicked rush of action for Sportingbet Plc, for whom Dicks has served as non-executive Chairman. Dicks' arrest prompted his company to suspend its shares immediately on the London Stock Market. Sportingbet owns one of the larger international online poker rooms, Paradise Poker, along with Sportsbook.com, an online sportsbetting giant that gets a lot of action from the US, to the tune of billions of dollars. Dicks was detained at JFK Airport, New York, by Port Authority officers, served with a warrant for his arrest for allegedly violating Louisiana State laws concerning gambling by computer. The general atmosphere in the gaming sector is of anxious anticipation.