David Carruthers

While residing in St. Louis, Carruthers established himself as an elite masters distance runner. The extent at which he was able to participate in the local running community while constrained to his house arrest mandate is perplexing. Masters PR's Mile – 4:58 2009 Big River Running Macklind Mile 3,000m – 10:06 5,000m – 17:47 10,000m – 37:24 2009 Go! St. Louis Halloween 10k Marathon – 3:07:29

On 2 April 2009, he pleaded guilty to racketeering charges, and agreed to co-operate in the federal investigation and prosecution of BetOnSports founder Gary Kaplan. He withdrew his plea in September 2009, but re-entered it in January 2010 and was sentenced to 33 months in prison.

David Carruthers (born September 1957 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a British businessman who was the CEO of online gambling company BETonSPORTS plc from July 2000 until July 2006. He was arrested in the United States on 16 July 2006 on charges related to his role as CEO of that company; he was subsequently convicted of racketeering conspiracy and sentenced to 33 months in prison.

In the fiscal year ending 5 February 2006, the company reported a 65 percent gain in operating profit on continuing operations to $20.1 million. The company said it handled $1.77 billion worth of bets for the year, up 25 percent.

Representative of his arguments for regulation is a 2006 Baltimore Sun article by Carruthers:

On 4 April 2006 Carruthers debated Rep. James A. Leach (R-Iowa), on the merits of Rep. Leach's Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (H.R. 4411, part of which became part of the Safe Port Act). In response to Rep. Leach's rhetoric, Carruthers presented the case for the regulation of the online gambling industry in the United States.

On Sunday 16 July 2006 Carruthers was arrested at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Texas while changing planes. He was travelling with his wife, Carol, from the BETonSPORTS Annual General Meeting in the United Kingdom to his home in Costa Rica where the two lived since 2000.

(At that meeting held on Friday, 14 July, he had publicly announced that the chances of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (H.R. 4411) being passed by the US Senate were "remote".)

Carruthers was terminated as BETonSPORTS chief executive officer on 24 July 2006, following his arrest and detention. The company cited Carruthers' inability to perform his daily business duties while jailed as the primary reason for the termination of his contract. It is widely speculated that BETonSPORTS' board made this move to distance itself from the scandal and from questions regarding the criminal background of company founder Gary Kaplan.

On Monday 31 July 2006 the defendants in the criminal case were arraigned before US Magistrate Judge for the First Eastern District of Missouri, Mary Ann L. Medler.

Carruthers was released on bail the morning of 16 August 2006. His conditions of release include a $1 million (£527,000) bail bond and that he must remain under house arrest in a hotel in Clayton, Missouri, 24 hours a day (only being permitted to leave the hotel for court appearances, meetings with his attorneys or medical emergencies). He must also wear an electronic tagging device so that his movements may be constantly monitored, and it was required he get a dedicated phone line installed at the hotel.

As at 5 February 2005 Carruthers owned 1,185,567 ordinary shares in the company (1.46% of the company based on 81.15 million shares outstanding), and had options for 3 million shares exercisable at £1.40 per share between 15 July 2007 and 15 July 2014.

This he achieved in July 2004 when BETonSPORTS plc successfully listed on the London AIM stock market, and raised £54.6 million (at the time US$101 million).

At the time of the initial listing 48.1% of the company's issued share capital was placed with institutional investors. The offering was underwritten by Evolution Beeson Gregory. It was the third largest IPO fundraising on AIM during 2004.

Carruthers oversaw rapid growth for the company, which more than tripled its operating profits during his tenure. He was appointed to the board of directors on 18 June 2004. BETonSPORTS had a turnover, for the year ended 31 January 2004, of US$1.6 billion. The Group generated a 276% increase in turnover over the period 1999–2004 and profits before tax rose from US$0.6m to approximately US$26m during the same period.

In 2004, when leading Internet portals Google and Yahoo! announced they would stop carrying adverts for online casinos, blaming a "lack of clarity" in US regulations, Carruthers told The New York Times:

Carruthers explained to The Wall Street Journal in a 2 August 2004 article: "What happened with alcohol [prohibition] was a disaster," he said. "Nobody wants this business, which is flourishing offshore, being pushed back onto the streets and the back alleys of the U.S." He also argues that "there's a huge missed opportunity here" for the US government to collect revenue.

In July 2000, while it was still a privately held company, Carruthers was appointed as CEO of BETonSPORTS, and tasked with bringing the company to a stock market listing.

A native of Edinburgh in Scotland, Carruthers attended art college before joining Ladbrokes Plc, the UK's largest retail bookmaker in 1976, where he became the youngest betting shop manager at the age of 19. During a twenty-four-year career with Ladbrokes, Carruthers graduated with an MBA from the University of Wolverhampton and rose to manage business development strategy for Ladbrokes shops in West England. He managed around forty of the business’s then 1,900 high street betting shops, managing the Midlands and south Wales territories.

After his appearance in court, Carruthers returned to the medium-security federal prison in Fort Worth to spend the night. He was expected to make the journey to a jail in St Louis, Missouri by prison bus on Saturday July, 22nd.