BetonSports: A drunken Clive Archer places blame on David Carruthers

Former BetonSports CEO David Carruthers enjoyed a Thanksgiving with friends, family and some online gambling industry leaders inside his luxury St. Louis suite.  But certainly not all is sweet.  Carruthers awaits trial on various charges stemming from his association with BetonSports including money laundering and tax evasion.

Carruthers - who is not a US citizen, but hails from Great Britain - must wear an ankle bracelet and remain in his St. Louis hotel room, though he has reportedly been allowed to leave two hours a day.

Following Carruthers arrest at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in mid-July, BetonSports immediately terminated him.  The company settled with the US government two weeks ago but is yet to pay any customers as ordered by the Justice Department. 

Those close to Carruthers say he has no intention of plea bargaining.   Carruthers, unlike his peers at BetonSports, has maintained his dignity and is still held in high regard by his colleagues.  He has also expressed disgust over how BetonSports was completely dismantled in his absence. 

A lawsuit will be brought against all of BetonSports Board of Directors shortly.

"I am writing the details for a writ right now for my client," an attorney told Gambling911.com in confidence.  "And it will go after all the directors including poor Scott Waller, who really was screwed by this whole thing."

Scott Waller, 46, joined BetonSports in July 2005 as the Chief Technology
Officer for the Group. Scott arrived at BetonSprots with extensive experience in
gaming software as Senior Vice President of IQ-Ludorum, a one time major
supplier of sportsbook and casino software. Scott was previously responsible for
the development and deployment of large scale customer relationship management
(CRM) systems in the IT industry for key customers including Sony, Nintendo,
FujiFilm and Rockwell Corporation.

Also, BetonSports Operations Director, Clive Archer, and Finance Director, Richard Creed, were seen at Sue Schneider's gaming show in Europe last month "completely hammered out of their heads", sources told Gambling911.

"They were spouting off to anyone who listened that  David (Carruthers) was to blame (for the BetonSports debacle). Meanwhile, David is telling people that he would have never shut down operations...as he put it, "It was the only leverage BoS had, and they lost it'."

Archer is now focusing on finding employment with another online gambling firm.  But his handling of the BoS situation is hardly something that would look impressive on a resume, not to mention the fact that any company looking to hire Archer would risk potential scrutiny from the US government. 

Meanwhile, antsy and upset customers of BetonSports have begun to contact the US Attorney's office in St. Louis to advise of the company's failure to live up to its settlement promise.  Phone lines to BoS have been cut off, though a few customers have reported a BetonSports representative answering after over a hundred rings.

Most employees have not yet been paid and the Costa Rican government is closely monitoring this situation. 

BetonSports spokesperson, Kevin Smith, who ironically resides in St. Louis, will also be the focus of a possible lawsuit. 

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Christopher Costigan, www.gambling911.com

Originally published November 24, 2006 12:16 am ET