Intrernet Gambling BE CAREFUL

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LONDON (Reuters) - David Carruthers, chief executive of online gaming group BETonSPORTS, has been detained by U.S. authorities while changing planes, the company said on Monday, sending the shares down more than 20 percent.

The board are currently seeking clarification as to the basis of the detention." it added.

A spokeswoman for BETonSPORTS, which runs a large part of its operation from the Costa Rican capital, said the incident happened on Sunday night when Carruthers was on his way to San Jose, but could give no further details.

Shares in the firm were 23 percent lower at 114 pence by 0930 GMT on Monday, valuing the business at around 105 million pounds ($193.3 million) .

The fall sparked concerns that the detention could be industry related, dragging down a raft of other Internet betting companies including FTSE 100 share PartyGaming which lost as much as 11.5 percent, Midcap 250 stock 888 Holdings and Austria's betandwin which also tumbled 11 percent.

Last week Carruthers told Reuters he thought that a U.S. Republican-written, House of Representatives-approved bill to crack down on Internet gambling by banning banks and credit card companies from processing the payments was bound to fail due to the mountainous backlog of other U.S. legislation