Gary Kaplan (born January 5, 1959, in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

) is the

founder Founder or Founders may refer to: Places *Founders Park, a stadium in South Carolina, formerly known as Carolina Stadium * Founders Park, a waterside park in Islamorada, Florida Arts, entertainment, and media * Founders (''Star Trek''), the ali ...

of BetonSports.com (BoS), an online

sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. Sports bettors place their wagers either legally, through a sportsbook or bookmaker (colloquially known as "bookies"), or illegally through priva ...

company which took in wagers amounting to nearly $4 billion from 2002 and 2004, 98 percent of which came from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 2004, BoS went public on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

Early life and career

Kaplan was raised in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, and dropped out of high school. He is of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

descent. In 1993, after he moving from New York to South Florida, he noticed how bookies would fly to the Caribbean where gambling was legal to place bets for American bettors. Soon after, he founded his own sports book doing the same. In 1995, he moved to

San José, Costa Rica San José (; meaning "Saint Joseph") is the capital city, capital and largest city of Costa Rica, and the capital of San José Province. It is in the center of the country, in the mid-west of the Costa Rican Central Valley, Central Valley, wi ...

where he met Norm "Stormin' Norman" Steinberg, operator of the Millennium Sportsbook. A consummate gambler, Steinberg lost heavily and settled his obligations to Kaplan, gave up his extensive customer list. Instead of relying on word-of-mouth to obtain customers, the norm in the industry, Kaplan implemented an extensive marketing campaign buying full-page ads in mainstream publications including

Maxim magazine ''Maxim'' (stylized in all caps) is an international men's magazine, devised and launched in the United Kingdom in 1995, but based in New York City since 1997. It is known for its photography of actors, singers and female models whose careers ar ...

and

Pro Football Weekly ''Pro Football Weekly'' (sometimes shortened to ''PFW'') is an American sports magazine, founded in 1967, and website that covers the National Football League (NFL). It was owned by Pro Football Weekly LLC and headquartered in Riverwoods, Illin ...

, on sports radio such as

The Jim Rome Show ''The Jim Rome Show'' is an American sports radio talk show hosted by Jim Rome. It airs live for three hours each weekday from 12pm to 3pm Pacific Time. The show is produced in Los Angeles, syndicated by Westwood One, and can be heard on aff ...

, leased billboards, and sent out promotional mail. He created 100s of websites as gamblers were superstitious often not returning to a website where they lost money. The business was so successful that his sister, Lori Kaplan Multz, and brother, Neil Kaplan, soon joined him in Costa Rica. BoS booked $1.09 billion in bets in 2001 increasing to $1.23 billion in 2002, and $1.24 billion 2003. In 2000, he hired British citizen David Carruthers as CEO and after initially failing to float the company on the

, they were successful in July 2004. On July 17, 2006, the

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the Eastern District of Missouri office, citing the

Federal Wire Act The Interstate Wire Act of 1961, often called the Federal Wire Act, is a United States federal law prohibiting the operation of certain types of betting businesses in the United States. It begins with the text: Several legal opinions and rulin ...

of 1961, which prohibits the use of a wire communication facility to transmit bets across state or foreign borders, issued a 22 count indictment for Gary Kaplan and eight others, including David Carruthers. Other violations noted in the indictment included Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, interstate transportation of gambling paraphernalia, interference with the administration of Internal Revenue Service laws and tax evasion. Nine months later he was arrested in the

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and

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transferred him to U.S. custody. Kaplan retained attorneys

Alan Dershowitz Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law, U.S. constitutional and American criminal law, criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law Sc ...

, Chris Flood, and

Dick DeGuerin Dick DeGuerin (born February 16, 1941, in Austin, Texas) is an American criminal defense attorney based in Houston, most notable for defending Tom DeLay, Allen Stanford, David Koresh, and Robert Durst. In 1994, DeGuerin was named Outstanding Cr ...

. In April 2009, Carruthers reached a

plea bargain A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a ...

with

prosecutors A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

in exchange for a reduced sentence. Carruthers has agreed to cooperate with authorities and testify against Kaplan and others still facing charges. In August 2009, Kaplan reached a plea deal with authorities. He was sentenced to 4 years in jail.Cuatro años de cárcel para el fundador de BetOnSports

Personal life

Kaplan is married to Holly Hoeffner and they have two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaplan, Gary Living people 1959 births American casino industry businesspeople American people of Jewish descent

Early life and career

Personal life

See also

References