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Costa Rican Sportsbook Tied
to Money Laundering
Nearly four dozen people,
including a New York state
trooper, were arrested Tuesday
in Syracuse, New York, for their roles in a us$20
million sports gambling ring
that took bets from across the
United States and laundered the
money through a clearinghouse in
Costa Rica.
"This is real big ... It was nothing for people to drop a couple thousand
dollars a game," Laun said.
Authorities identified the
ring's head bookie as
60-year-old George Bedigian, who
ran the operation out of his
Syracuse home. Bedigian was
charged with 237 felony counts
of promoting gambling,
possessing gambling records and
money laundering.
Bedigian had been the target of
a number of gambling
investigations dating back to
the 1970s, Laun said.
Members of the ring accepted
bets from gamblers from
Massachusetts to Nevada on NFL
games, college basketball and
other sporting events. Those
bets were forwarded to Bedigian,
who also accepted bets directly
himself. Laun said that from
August 2004 through April,
Bedigian handled over $20.3
million in illegal betting
action, netting about $2 million
for himself.
Some of the wagers were
channeled through a
clearinghouse in Costa Rica
known as "Safe Deposit Sports,"
either over the Internet on
their website
www.sdsportsbetting.com or
through 1-800 numbers.
Relaxed banking regulations in
Costa Rica facilitated the
transfer of the money.
On their website,
sdsportsbetting.com says
if you're looking to bet
on sports online, don't go just
with any sportsbook. Safe
Deposit Sports Book is the
finest sportsbook gambling on
the web, plus the customer
service and care a real
sportsbook gives.
SD SportsBetting offered a
complete gambling service on the
NFL football, NBA basketball,
MLB baseball and NHL hockey.
SDSportsBetting.com is located
in San José, says they are a
certified sportsbook and we are
fully legal and protected by
national and international laws,
inspiring better confidence.
SDS employed a large number
multi-lingual professionals to
take bets and customer service
supported on it's 150 inbound
lines, in addition to taking
online bets over the internet.
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