Former online gambling operator denied tax relief

The name Gary Kaplan will be familiar to most online gambling veterans as the often controversial force behind BetOnSports – the pioneering sports betting powerhouse that was one of the first victims of US enforcement activity (see previous reports).

Kaplan was apprehended and extradited to the United States on criminal charges in 2008, and was subsequently sentenced in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis to 51 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $43.65 million.

However, his woes did not end there; the IRS pursued him for $36 million in back taxes and penalties, prompting Kaplan to appeal on statute of limitation and prior official plea agreement grounds.

The US Tax Court rejected Kaplan’s appeal, and on Wednesday a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the rejection.