Canadian online sports betting exec jailed

Canadian media reporting from Ottawa revealed Tuesday that another Operation Amethyst accused has been sentenced for online sports betting through a criminal organisation.

Fifty-year-old Benedetto Manasseri, 50, allegedly a former executive in a lucrative Ottawa-based online sports betting ring, was sent to jail for 26 months by Canadian Judge Hugh Fraser.

Manasseri was one of more than thirty individuals caught up in 2012 in massive national and provincial police raids during Operation Amethyst, a major police enforcement action launched in September 2010 in order to investigate the criminal activities of individuals with ties to organised crime in the Ottawa area.

Manasseri, who pleaded guilty to a criminal organization charge related to book-making, was the head of an online sports gambling ring that grossed over $842,000 between February and July 2012, the court heard.

The enterprise operated a trio of sports betting websites which operated in Ottawa and Rockland.

Manasseri’s second in command, Gary Saikaley, who had taken over leadership of the betting ring as police investigated has already received an 18-month sentence.

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