PartyGaming co-founder Anurag Dikshit has agreed to pay $300 million to the United States government as part of his decision to plead guilty to charges related to operating an illegal online casino. Mr. Dikshit owns a 27% stake in the company, which is publicly traded in the United Kingdom.I guess this is good news because the federal government really could use the money right about now. But in a moral sense, everything about this case is hypocritical and infuriating. Mr. Dikshit operated an online business that provided a service to people who wanted to participate. There has never been any suggestion that consumers -- who were required to be 18 years old to play -- were being ripped off by PartyGaming. He did not rip off investors as Bernard Madoff has done, nor did his product cause cancer like Philip Morris' (NYSE: MO). So all that the company really did was break laws banning the operation of an illicit casino -- laws that, by the way, serve to protect the monopoly of the 39 states that offer the lottery.
If there's anything morally repugnant about offering people an opportunity to gamble, why do state governments do just that? If there isn't, why persecute an entrepreneur like Mr. Dikshit?
It's unfortunate that federal officials don't devote their energy to stopping businesses that actually rip people off.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-29-2008 @ 11:37PM
Greg Tingle said...
Well said Zac. Perhaps Anurag Dikshit knows a few other aspects of this case which are not in the public domain. He has build an empire and made a fortune, and has happy customers around the globe. We are even doing a touch of light b2b business with PartyGaming (and Virgin Games, PKR.com and others) right here down under at Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia! I "guess" the U.S government research may have indicated that Mr Dikshit had the money to pay the fine. PartyGaming's strongest brand, PartyCasino.com, is even doing Hollywood themed slots now, like The Terminator and The Godfather, and its said that Rambo is on the way. All this news, and the way things have progressed has seen the shares retain value, and Hollywood, nor Australia, has been scared off from doing business with PartyGaming. They are even doing some major events business in Europe with CAP Euro, so they are powering ahead at this stage of the game, or at least that's the perception, and perceptions can become realities. Time will tell, and Party may have the last laugh yet, whilst many other iGaming and online casinos scramble and even shut up shop, either in the U.S. or both. Party has been doing there thing since 1997, which is a very long time in this line of business. Watch this space.