In about two months, David Carruthers will be sentenced for his role in the Betonsports racketeering conspiracy. It will be the end of a case that began more than three years ago, darkening the future of the online gambling industry and causing its UK-based executives to hastily revise their US travel plans.

Mr Carruthers, the Scottish-born former chief executive of the bankrupt Betonsports website, was en route from the UK to Costa Rica, the company's main operations base, when he was arrested at a Dallas airport in July 2006.