Carruthers Watch -- Ex-BetonSports CEO David Carruthers was freed on $1 million bond today after spending nearly a month in federal custody following his arrest on racketeering and fraud charges. Carruthers' attorneys expected him to be released on Monday, but it took three days to work out the technical details. According to the conditions of his bond, he must remain in the St. Louis area until his trial. He will live at a hotel in Clayton, a St. Louis suburb and he will not be allowed to leave the hotel except for court appearances, meetings with his attorney and medical emergencies.
Disgruntled -- BettingMarket.com reports that Argentinean online betting firm Formoapuestas, owned by BetonSports, recently became the victim of angry hackers. On the morning of Aug. 14, the vandals overtook the Web site, disabled the sports book and replaced the page with a personal message which read: "BOS SUCKS. PAY YOUR CUSTOMERS AND EMPLOYEES, or you will be held accountable." The site has since been completely removed.
Tabcorp Denied -- Victorian gaming giant Tabcorp's attempt at a A$1.9 billion hostile takeover of Queensland company Unitab was rejected by Australia's antitrust regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, on Wednesday on grounds the combined company would unfairly dominate betting on horse races. Unitab shareholders will vote on a Tattersall's merger bid, which has been in the works since March, at a meeting on Aug. 21.
Signing, Launching, Etc. -- Swedish gaming and software company Boss Media, in conjunction with partner company St. Minver Ltd., has signed agreements covering delivery of poker systems to United States-based lottery service provider Trillonario.com and U.K.-based VS Poker. Trillonario.com will market its poker offering in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. VS Poker is already established with a rival poker network, but is switching to Boss Media's network. Both systems are set to launch in the fall. . . . Betcorp's new online sports book Ready2bet.com went live this week. The site offers a one-account system to customers and offers betting on a variety of sports, including football, baseball, hockey, basketball, horse racing and more. . . . Internet bingo solutions provider Parlay Entertainment Inc. announced that Swedish online gaming group Unibet has added Parlay-powered bingo to its offering of online games. Unibet will initially launch Unibet Bingo in Swedish, with other languages to follow.
Stock Watch -- London I-gaming stocks continued to climb today, beginning with Sportingbet, which closed up 13p to 255. Neteller put on 12p to 406; William Hill added 7p to 618.50 and PartyGaming ended the day at 108.75, up 4.75p. On the Stockholm Stock Exchange, online gaming company Unibet, which just added bingo to its games roster, gained 5 SEK to close at 166.50 SKr.