U.S. Court Case Regarding Online Casino Developer Starts Next Week

A key court case is scheduled to begin on January 8th, as the U.S. Department of Justice office in Manhattan announced that a trial against an internet gambling developer will indeed go forward.

The case will see Robert Stuart and his firm Extension Software being tried for promoting illegal gambling after the government issued an indictment in October 2012. Extension Software licensed its sports betting software to sportsbooks outside of the United States, generated roughly $2.3 million in revenue in the process.

At the time of the indictment U.S. District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance said: “These defendants abetted large-scale illegal gambling in the U.S. and abroad. In doing so, they gave bettors an easy way to place illegal wagers, and created an appetite for further unlawful activity.”

Stuart's wife and brother in law have also been charged in the case, but all three claim they have no knowledge of the software being used in the U.S. by sports bettors.

Stuart spoke to Wired.com about the case this week, saying: “It’s overreaching where they’re going after a software developer who sells the software with a legal license, and yet we’re still being prosecuted on how it’s being used.”

The owner also goes on to assert that he is being prosecuted because he refused to cooperate with helping uncover illegal betting operations in the United States by hacking into client accounts, pulling user information in the process.

Stuart also claims that he also has evidence supporting his claim and said: “They made it clear that they would do nothing. I was expected to do everything, to modify the system to allow myself to get in to get the information they wanted - their whole intention was for me to retrieve information from those databases that were located in foreign countries…. They were going to use me to get to the clients…. But I’m not a hacker, I’m a software developer.”