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A local Roanoke, Virginia restaurant owner and programmer were charged with running an online sports betting site that was being served out of Costa Rica.
Authorities claim the now defunct website, Playweewa.net, took in nearly $5 million annually before the plug was pulled in April of last year. At least nine people face charges in this matter.
Max Alexander Krinberg, a 42-year-old programmer in San Jose, Costa Rica, who specialized in building sports-betting websites, pleaded guilty Wednesday to the federal felony offense of running a gambling business that violated a state law, in this case Virginia law.
Krinberg allegedly ran the website, which was operated by bookmakers throughout Virginia, the Carolinas, Florida, Texas and Massachusetts. The business itself was dubbed “the Roanoke Sports Book Organization”.
George Raymond Frederick of Greensboro, North Carolina, also plead guilty Wednesday.
The Roanoke restaurant owner selected bookmakers who could establish an “agent page” on the site and grant individual bettors access to the betting tools available at the password-protected website, according to court papers obtained by the Roanoke Times.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
