BETONSPORTS FINALLY CLOSING DOWN U.S.-RELATED OPERATIONS

(695) (12-October-2006)

Settling liabilities like player obligations and retrenched staff could take time

The last news we heard in the BetonSports debacle was that the company was trying to negotiate a settlement with the US authorities, whilst its erstwhile CEO David Carruthers remained on bail and fugitive founder and 15 percent shareholder Gary Kaplan remained at large.

According to the latest announcement from the company, the situation appears to have deteriorated further, with the final abandonment of US-facing operations in Antigua and Costa Rica, and the intended settlement of player, staff and creditor obligations over an unspecified period of time.

The board of directors announced today (Thursday) that in light of the Temporary Restraining Order issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, and the related indictment issued by the court, and after thoroughly reviewing possible alternative business plans, they no longer consider the US facing operations of the company, which are based in Costa Rica and Antigua, to be viable.

The directors have considered the impact of this conclusion and now intend that the company should;

* cease its operations in Costa Rica and Antigua as soon as practicable;
* pay any liabilities to staff and creditors in an orderly manner; and;
* repay balances due to US customers in an orderly manner.

Items 2 and 3 above will take time and the successful completion will depend upon the company's ability to persuade banks and cash processors to release its funds. It also will depend on the company's ability to realise further and sufficient funds from its assets and operations outside Costa Rica and Antigua and to earn sufficient profits from operations which are not US facing.

The directors are taking steps to ensure that the company will not knowingly accept any wagering transactions from US based customers.