What ?
So you guys are cool with a Sports Book canceling and free rolling no telling how many people ?
You think they deserve a pat on the back ?
Congrats on them paying Leatherballs .
So I guess it’s ok to steal from some people as long as you don’t rob everyone .
Got it .
So as long as they a part time stiff shop it’s ok as long as they don’t rob everyone .
So you guys are cool with a Sports Book canceling and free rolling no telling how many people ?
You think they deserve a pat on the back ?
Congrats on them paying Leatherballs .
So I guess it’s ok to steal from some people as long as you don’t rob everyone .
Got it .
So as long as they a part time stiff shop it’s ok as long as they don’t rob everyone .
Not that my payout is huge compared to some bettors, but I hope my payout amount didn't raise a flag or get me on a special list. I don't know if I believe that "player info" is private and confidential and was not turned over. You cannot tell me the feds aren't logged into the backend of 5dimes in efforts to support their lawsuit.
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[h=1]Offshore Online Gambling Site Seeks to Become Legal U.S. Operator[/h][h=2]Costa Rican sportsbook 5Dimes reaches agreement with federal prosecutors to end criminal investigation[/h]
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<figcaption class="wsj-article-caption article__inset__image__caption" itemprop="caption" style="font-family: Retina; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">[h=4]Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania reached a deal resolving 5Dimes’s legal troubles over its more than two decades of operating offshore and accepting U.S. bets.[/h]PHOTO: RAYMOND BOYD/GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>
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A Costa Rica-based online sportsbook that illegally took bets from American customers for years has reached a nonprosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, as the company attempts to move into the legal sports-betting market in the U.S.
Gambling site 5Dimes and federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced a deal Wednesday that clears the company’s owner, Laura Varela, of wrongdoing and resolves the company’s legal troubles over its more than two decades of operating offshore and accepting bets from Americans. The Justice Department has been investigating the company for illegal gambling, money laundering, wire fraud and other offenses, according to the agreement.
The deal appears to be the first of its kind since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2018 allowed states beyond Nevada to legalize sports wagering, triggering a rapid expansion of the industry. 5Dimes has stopped accepting bets from U.S. customers as part of the settlement. But the agreement paves the way for the company to seek the right to operate as a legal sportsbook, a step its lawyers say it plans to take.
As part of the agreement, 5Dimes will forfeit more than $46 million in assets including cash, cryptocurrency, sports memorabilia and sports cars. No information from any of the firm’s customers was turned over to the Justice Department as part of the settlement.
“The settlement agreement announced today is a victory for the United States in ceasing the illegal activity of a company that was being investigated for a multitude of crimes, including a sophisticated money laundering operation,” said federal prosecutor William McSwain.
Proponents of legalizing sports betting in the U.S. have long pointed out that many websites based offshore take wagers from customers in the U.S. to circumvent anti-gambling laws. With people in the U.S. already gambling big on sports, they argue, the practice should be legalized, regulated and taxed to boost state revenues. Americans illegally bet an estimated $150 billion on sports annually before the Supreme Court ruling, according to the American Gaming Association, an industry trade group.
The Justice Department’s investigation into 5Dimes was under way when its American founder, William Sean “Tony” Creighton, was kidnapped in Costa Rica in 2018 and found dead a year later.
The agreement accuses the late Mr. Creighton of catering primarily to American customers in violation of U.S. law and taking steps to hide his activities, such as using aliases and shell companies to disguise his ownership of the company. It says that his widow, Ms. Varela, lacked involvement in the alleged illegal activities.
After his death, Ms. Varela became the owner of 5Dimes. In an interview, she said she was never involved in managing the company, even after Mr. Creighton’s disappearance—a significant factor in the Justice Department’s agreeing to a settlement that could eventually let the company operate legally.
“I just kept waiting for him to come back,” Ms. Varela said.
When it became clear 5Dimes would become her responsibility, she said, she contacted the U.S. government to resolve continuing investigations. Prosecutors said in the agreement that Ms. Varela restructured 5Dimes to be “suitable for participating in lawful gaming operations across the world” and the company and any transfer of its assets “will be free and clear of any legal restriction” related to the earlier investigation.
As casino operators and online brands like FanDuel and DraftKings have expanded rapidly into sports betting, it remains to be seen whether offshore sportsbooks will be licensed—or at least cleared to sell their assets to a licensed operator—after flouting U.S. anti-gambling laws.
When deciding whether to issue gambling licenses, state regulators scrutinize the histories and financials of companies and their owners. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports wagering, with some states limiting the activity to casinos and others allowing online bets.
The illegal gambling market has persisted despite Americans’ growing number of legal options. Legal sports wagers generated $920 million in revenue last year, compared with an estimated $6.5 billion through illegal sportsbooks, according to a report by Eilers & Krejcik Gaming. Americans’ interest in sports betting has increased thanks to marketing by legal companies, which has in turn boosted business for offshore sites that still appear atop Google search results for sports gambling, according to the report.
Jeff Ifrah, a gambling attorney who represents Ms. Varela, said the next step will be pursuing a license in New Jersey, one of the biggest legal markets in the country. Offshore sites continue to harm the regulated market, Mr. Ifrah said, and 5Dimes is a prime candidate for shifting to the legal market given Ms. Varela’s cooperation with prosecutors.
The path for other online sportsbooks to follow in 5Dimes toward legal status might be limited, since Ms. Varela’s previous lack of involvement in running the company set her apart from the heads of most offshore operators.
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[h=1]Offshore Online Gambling Site Seeks to Become Legal U.S. Operator[/h][h=2]Costa Rican sportsbook 5Dimes reaches agreement with federal prosecutors to end criminal investigation[/h]
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<figcaption class="wsj-article-caption article__inset__image__caption" itemprop="caption" style="font-family: Retina; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">[h=4]Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania reached a deal resolving 5Dimes’s legal troubles over its more than two decades of operating offshore and accepting U.S. bets.[/h]PHOTO: RAYMOND BOYD/GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>
By <button class="author-button" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline; line-height: 22px; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 128, 195); background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; text-decoration-line: underline; font-family: inherit;">Katherine Sayre</button>
and <button class="author-button" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline; line-height: 22px; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 128, 195); background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; text-decoration-line: underline; font-family: inherit;">Byron Tau</button>
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A Costa Rica-based online sportsbook that illegally took bets from American customers for years has reached a nonprosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, as the company attempts to move into the legal sports-betting market in the U.S.
Gambling site 5Dimes and federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced a deal Wednesday that clears the company’s owner, Laura Varela, of wrongdoing and resolves the company’s legal troubles over its more than two decades of operating offshore and accepting bets from Americans. The Justice Department has been investigating the company for illegal gambling, money laundering, wire fraud and other offenses, according to the agreement.
The deal appears to be the first of its kind since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2018 allowed states beyond Nevada to legalize sports wagering, triggering a rapid expansion of the industry. 5Dimes has stopped accepting bets from U.S. customers as part of the settlement. But the agreement paves the way for the company to seek the right to operate as a legal sportsbook, a step its lawyers say it plans to take.
As part of the agreement, 5Dimes will forfeit more than $46 million in assets including cash, cryptocurrency, sports memorabilia and sports cars. No information from any of the firm’s customers was turned over to the Justice Department as part of the settlement.
“The settlement agreement announced today is a victory for the United States in ceasing the illegal activity of a company that was being investigated for a multitude of crimes, including a sophisticated money laundering operation,” said federal prosecutor William McSwain.
Proponents of legalizing sports betting in the U.S. have long pointed out that many websites based offshore take wagers from customers in the U.S. to circumvent anti-gambling laws. With people in the U.S. already gambling big on sports, they argue, the practice should be legalized, regulated and taxed to boost state revenues. Americans illegally bet an estimated $150 billion on sports annually before the Supreme Court ruling, according to the American Gaming Association, an industry trade group.
The Justice Department’s investigation into 5Dimes was under way when its American founder, William Sean “Tony” Creighton, was kidnapped in Costa Rica in 2018 and found dead a year later.
The agreement accuses the late Mr. Creighton of catering primarily to American customers in violation of U.S. law and taking steps to hide his activities, such as using aliases and shell companies to disguise his ownership of the company. It says that his widow, Ms. Varela, lacked involvement in the alleged illegal activities.
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After his death, Ms. Varela became the owner of 5Dimes. In an interview, she said she was never involved in managing the company, even after Mr. Creighton’s disappearance—a significant factor in the Justice Department’s agreeing to a settlement that could eventually let the company operate legally.
“I just kept waiting for him to come back,” Ms. Varela said.
When it became clear 5Dimes would become her responsibility, she said, she contacted the U.S. government to resolve continuing investigations. Prosecutors said in the agreement that Ms. Varela restructured 5Dimes to be “suitable for participating in lawful gaming operations across the world” and the company and any transfer of its assets “will be free and clear of any legal restriction” related to the earlier investigation.
As casino operators and online brands like FanDuel and DraftKings have expanded rapidly into sports betting, it remains to be seen whether offshore sportsbooks will be licensed—or at least cleared to sell their assets to a licensed operator—after flouting U.S. anti-gambling laws.
When deciding whether to issue gambling licenses, state regulators scrutinize the histories and financials of companies and their owners. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports wagering, with some states limiting the activity to casinos and others allowing online bets.
The illegal gambling market has persisted despite Americans’ growing number of legal options. Legal sports wagers generated $920 million in revenue last year, compared with an estimated $6.5 billion through illegal sportsbooks, according to a report by Eilers & Krejcik Gaming. Americans’ interest in sports betting has increased thanks to marketing by legal companies, which has in turn boosted business for offshore sites that still appear atop Google search results for sports gambling, according to the report.
Jeff Ifrah, a gambling attorney who represents Ms. Varela, said the next step will be pursuing a license in New Jersey, one of the biggest legal markets in the country. Offshore sites continue to harm the regulated market, Mr. Ifrah said, and 5Dimes is a prime candidate for shifting to the legal market given Ms. Varela’s cooperation with prosecutors.
The path for other online sportsbooks to follow in 5Dimes toward legal status might be limited, since Ms. Varela’s previous lack of involvement in running the company set her apart from the heads of most offshore operators.
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I requested an $8k payout on 9/14 it was declined on 9/24 because it was over $5k Bitcoin and they said it had to be a new address or some bullshit excuse. I requested 2 payouts of $4k each on 9/24, and have been ignored ever since via chat and email, now their website blocks me. I better get this money...
Cant even get the site at all now from the US....
www.5dimes.eu
www.5dimes.eu
Was paid last night after requesting on 9/21. Never knew the story about Tony or following investigation by US feds, but man is it crazy. Changes my feelings on how this last month has been handled. To their credit, they always answered quickly on live chat and verified via phone call and device before sending bitcoin. I'll 100% give them a fresh look if they get set-up in the USA. The rest of these "legal" USA books all have shit lines and juice!
What's up guys? I'm still PATIENTLY waiting. However, after corresponding with one of their (5DIMES) Customer Service Reps I gotta tell ya I feel 200% better!! I'm waiting on a Bitcoin Payout that I requested on 9/24/20 and there for awhile it was something each day that 5D wanted from me? Thus and that blah, blah, etc..until I got to the point of feeling they were dragging me or spinning me with things that were simple BUT could have been given all to me at one time, you know? Then when that info came out on ESPN is when I realized/thought Okay here it is...I'm jumpin thru hoops and now the cats outta the bag with the FEDS and they finally got there plates cleaned so to speak so now its FU*@ ME cuz 5D is out of hot water?? But going back to my phone call tonight with the 5D CSR as I FINALLY got someone from there on the phone I was ready to go off on someone because I was just ready to tell them how big crooks they are!!.. BUT after the CSR made me realize after talking with me that they had sent me an email TODAY that I would have SWORE he lied about...but what happened was dear ole SPAM ate the message!!!! WTF? Sure enough there it was, bigger than sh*t, the email went to my SPAM FILE but I found it and CONFIRMED what they wanted (verification) and I'm looking GREAT right now! Sorry so lengthy but the point is check yiur email AND SPAM regularly or you know at least til you get paid guys!! P.S. I feel AWESOME now and I think WE ALL WILL BE GOOD WITH 5DIMES!! SWG
