If You're Gonna Lose, Lose a Lot

Do you know who Peter Dicks and David Carruthers are? News of Amaranth Advisors and its loss of $6 billion this month (related post here) guessing wrong about where natural gas prices were headed led me to think of Mr. Dicks and Mr. Carruthers. Both are executives of online sports betting companies that are located outside of the United States but which accept bets from people in the United States. Both also were arrested recently on gambling-related charges when they made the mistake of traveling through U.S. airports. According to government officials, it is illegal for online companies to solicit or accept wagers from persons in the U.S., even when those companies are located outside the U.S., and even though it is not illegal for people to place the bets.

So, let's see if I understand all this: If you solicit and accept money from individuals willing to gamble on a sporting event, you're a criminal. If you solicit and accept money from pension funds willing to gamble on energy, commodity, and stock markets, you're a big-shot hedge fund manager. Makes sense to me.