December 1 - This week in New York City's Queens Criminal Court, James Giordano,
a professional poker player was denied bail after being charged with running an illegal sports
betting online gambling operation worth an
estimated $3.3 billion.
The 52 year-old player, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, was extradited
along with his family to face the charges in New York City. Giordano's wife, his
daughter and his son-in-law have also been indicted along with 23 other
suspects.
Earlier this month 15 FBI agents stormed Giordano's home in Florida. Prosecutors
in the case have indicated that Giordano ran the multi-billion dollar online
gambling scheme to rival traditional sports betting.
They have alleged that the poker ace had been the brains and boss behind the online
gambling operation since 2004, generating over $1 billion a year through a
network of over 2000
bookmakers and tens of thousands of betting fans.
Giordano's operation involved the daily online tracking of thousands of secretly coded wagers
as well as the constant monitoring of the point spreads and sports results via a
'restricted' website.
