COHEN TO BEGIN JAIL SENTENCE
10/6/02 - Stephen Nover


While people happily wager on football, Jay Cohen prepares for prison.

The co-founder and president of World Sports Exchange in Antigua, begins his 21-month sentence on October 15. Cohen was convicted of violating the 1961 Wire Act in February of 1999.

Cohen will serve his time at a federal prison located on the Nellis Air Force Base, which just happens to be in Las Vegas.

Cohen couldn't help but notice the irony.

"I'm in the shadow of the Las Vegas Strip where multi-billion dollar corporations are engaged in the exact same activity for which I'm being robbed of my freedom," he said.

Cohen and 20 other defendants were originally charged in March of '98 for violating the Wire Act. Since then, World Sports Exchange (WSE) has become bigger than ever. With a customer base estimated to be around 30,000, it is one of the largest sports books in the world.

Since he was accepting wagers in Antigua, where bookmaking is legal, Cohen believed he was not breaking any laws. Therefore, he came back to America to fight the charges. He was the only defendant to challenge the system.

After losing his case in a controversial manner when the judge instructed the jury how to vote, Cohen appealed. He lost his appeal two years ago, and found out in June that the Supreme Court would not review his case.

"It's so wrong what's happening to me," Cohen said. "I ran a legal business in another country. It's scary."

Cohen received an official notice of surrender via e-mail late last month. He couldn't believe what also was on the e-mail.

"You want irony?" Cohen asked. "On top of this e-mail of my order to surrender information was an ad for an on-line casino. It's true."

So Cohen, a brilliant man who helped pioneer sports interactive wagering, will be off to prison. Apparently that's what you can get when you try to stand on principle against an out-of-touch government that plays with a stacked deck.

"It won't be the conditions," Cohen said about what makes him the maddest about going to prison. "But the stupidity of the thing."