Betex De-Listed, Senior Staff Still Detained

In a note to the London Stock Exchange this afternoon, Betex, the Asia-facing lottery and gaming company, said its shares will be de-listed from AIM effective tomorrow.

Trading in the group's shares has been suspended since April 18, per its request, after two of its senior, Bejing-based staff were detained by Chinese authorities in the province of Jilin.

Betex Chief Operating Officer Jeremy Longley told IGN that the two are still being held and that charges have yet to be brought.

"Although the investigation has closed, the charges have not yet been brought by the police against the individuals concerned," Longley said. "It's one of those rather opaque legal systems whereby until the charges are brought, you're never 100 percent sure what those charges are going to be."

Longley said that, with regard to the charges, neither the company nor the detainees has received a clear time frame from the Chinese authorities.

"The time scale for that that we've been given is three to seven months from the middle of May, which probably means--and again, this is an indication we've been given--that we'll get some sort of move on that in December," he said.

Longley added that the company will issue a more detailed update next week concerning its Chinese operations and what direction it intends to take going forward.