MORE than £400 million was wiped off the value of Sportingbet, the online gambling operator, yesterday after trading in its shares resumed for the first time since its chairman was arrested in New York last week.

The company asked for trading in its shares to be suspended last Thursday, when it became aware that Peter Dicks, its non-executive chairman, had been arrested at JFK airport the previous evening on a warrant issued by Louisiana State Police. The shares fell by 95p to 144p, although dealers noted some late buying in the market as some investors decided that the fall had been overdone.

Mr Dicks, who was released on $50,000 bail on Friday by the New York Supreme Court, is scheduled to be back in court on Thursday, when he will seek to block an attempt by the state of Louisiana to have him extradited from New York. Sportingbet said that it expected Mr Dicks to “vigorously contest” Louisiana’s request that he be extradited to face charges that he was involved in illegal gambling by computer.

His lawyers are expected to argue that Mr Dicks should never have been arrested because he was a non-executive director and was travelling to a board meeting of the Nasdaq-listed Standard Microsystems, of which he is also a director. They will also point out that he is being pursued by a state that allows state-run lottery terminals and video lottery machines that are commissioned and controlled by the gaming enforcement division of the state police. Unlike David Carruthers, the former BetOnSports chief executive, who is being pursued by the Department of Justice, Mr Dicks has avoided federal charges.

• Lord Steinberg of Belfast, the chairman and founder of Stanley Leisure, will pocket £64 million from the sale of the casino company to Genting International, the Malaysian gaming operator. The 69-year-old peer sold a 5.3 per cent stake to Genting over the weekend and has given irrevocable undertakings to accept its 860p-a-bid in respect of his remaining 5.3 per cent holding.

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