Platinum Sportsbook exec to serve two years, pay $3m fine

A leading figure in a defunct Canadian illegal online credit betting operation is facing two years in jail after pleading guilty to his wicked, wicked ways.

On Wednesday, 50-year-old David Hair appeared in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto, where he pleaded guilty to bookmaking for a criminal organization based on his involvement in Platinum SportsBook, an online credit betting operation with links to a Canadian chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang.

Justice John McMahon heard Hair admit his role as a “leading member of the upper-echelon management group” of the credit betting operation, which police dismantled in February 2013 following raids on multiple properties, including an invitation-only Super Bowl party in Markham, Ontario for 2,300 of the ring’s best customers.

The ring utilized Costa Rica-based websites, including PlatinumSB.com, to process customers’ wagers, while the business of paying winnings and collecting debts was handled in person in the grand tradition of credit betting operations. Among the individuals caught up in the arrests was the uncle of Toronto Maple Leafs hockey player Nazem Kadri.