bigboydan
08-12-2003, 10:47 PM
Online bettor pleads guilty
By Dave Forster
dmforster@forumcomm.com
The Forum - 08/12/2003
A former Harwood, N.D., man who pleaded guilty Monday in Cass County District Court to placing sports bets over the Internet is believed to be the first in the United States to be convicted of the crime.
Jeffrey Trauman, a former car salesman who began betting full time three years ago, authorized Fargo attorney John Goff to plead guilty to the misdemeanor gambling charge. Trauman now lives with his wife and three children in Kentucky, where he can legally continue his betting career, Goff said.
Though about half the states still have laws against gambling, only a handful of people have been convicted solely for placing bets, said I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School in California, who has studied gambling law for 23 years.
“He is the first and only person I know of who has actually both been arrested and convicted for online gambling,” said Rose, whom Trauman e-mailed for advice.
Following a joint recommendation by Goff and a state prosecutor, East Central Judicial District Judge Norman Backes gave Trauman a one-year deferred sentence and a mandatory $500 fine.
A state investigation initiated by the attorney general’s office began looking into Trauman’s betting this spring. When agents searched his home in April, they found $43,000 in cash in a basement office. But Trauman reported his winnings and said he did not know what he was doing was illegal, a report by Gaming Division Auditor Greg Schlosser said.
A spokeswoman for Schlosser said a tip from an outside source led to the investigation but would not be more specific. Any further details might jeopardize future cases, she said.
Though Trauman listed professional gambler as his job on tax returns, Rose said it is highly unlikely that IRS agents tipped off investigators. U.S. Supreme Court rulings against self-incrimination restrict such collaboration.
After receiving his client’s sentence Monday, Goff said the case could have made an interesting trial. The state‘s jurisdiction over online bets to offshore casinos is not clear, Goff said, and an argument could be made that there is none.
Despite the prospect of setting a precedent, Trauman declined the challenge.
“He just wants to get this over with,” Goff said.
A trial also likely would have garnered strong public support for Trauman and shown unfavorably upon the state, Rose said. With tribal casinos, horse racing, charity gambling in bars and an upcoming lottery, North Dakota sanctions more forms of gambling than Nevada.
“Publicly, there’s the whole hypocrisy argument,” Rose said.
While the crime is often not prosecuted, Trauman’s case stood out because of the amount he was waging, said Assistant Cass County State’s Attorney Bud Myers. State law makes any bet over $500 a misdemeanor offense.
“He went a little beyond that,” Myers said.
Rose, who plans to discuss Trauman’s case in an upcoming book, “Gambling and the Law,” said the Cass County conviction shouldn’t worry others who bet online.
“I guess now we have one in the United States out of at least 100 million people who are gambling illegally,” Rose said. “So the odds are you’re not going to get in trouble.”
By Dave Forster
dmforster@forumcomm.com
The Forum - 08/12/2003
A former Harwood, N.D., man who pleaded guilty Monday in Cass County District Court to placing sports bets over the Internet is believed to be the first in the United States to be convicted of the crime.
Jeffrey Trauman, a former car salesman who began betting full time three years ago, authorized Fargo attorney John Goff to plead guilty to the misdemeanor gambling charge. Trauman now lives with his wife and three children in Kentucky, where he can legally continue his betting career, Goff said.
Though about half the states still have laws against gambling, only a handful of people have been convicted solely for placing bets, said I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School in California, who has studied gambling law for 23 years.
“He is the first and only person I know of who has actually both been arrested and convicted for online gambling,” said Rose, whom Trauman e-mailed for advice.
Following a joint recommendation by Goff and a state prosecutor, East Central Judicial District Judge Norman Backes gave Trauman a one-year deferred sentence and a mandatory $500 fine.
A state investigation initiated by the attorney general’s office began looking into Trauman’s betting this spring. When agents searched his home in April, they found $43,000 in cash in a basement office. But Trauman reported his winnings and said he did not know what he was doing was illegal, a report by Gaming Division Auditor Greg Schlosser said.
A spokeswoman for Schlosser said a tip from an outside source led to the investigation but would not be more specific. Any further details might jeopardize future cases, she said.
Though Trauman listed professional gambler as his job on tax returns, Rose said it is highly unlikely that IRS agents tipped off investigators. U.S. Supreme Court rulings against self-incrimination restrict such collaboration.
After receiving his client’s sentence Monday, Goff said the case could have made an interesting trial. The state‘s jurisdiction over online bets to offshore casinos is not clear, Goff said, and an argument could be made that there is none.
Despite the prospect of setting a precedent, Trauman declined the challenge.
“He just wants to get this over with,” Goff said.
A trial also likely would have garnered strong public support for Trauman and shown unfavorably upon the state, Rose said. With tribal casinos, horse racing, charity gambling in bars and an upcoming lottery, North Dakota sanctions more forms of gambling than Nevada.
“Publicly, there’s the whole hypocrisy argument,” Rose said.
While the crime is often not prosecuted, Trauman’s case stood out because of the amount he was waging, said Assistant Cass County State’s Attorney Bud Myers. State law makes any bet over $500 a misdemeanor offense.
“He went a little beyond that,” Myers said.
Rose, who plans to discuss Trauman’s case in an upcoming book, “Gambling and the Law,” said the Cass County conviction shouldn’t worry others who bet online.
“I guess now we have one in the United States out of at least 100 million people who are gambling illegally,” Rose said. “So the odds are you’re not going to get in trouble.”