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LONDON (MarketWatch) - Shares in online gambling group Sportingbet sold off in London on Monday as investors took their first chance to react to last week’s detention of the company’s chairman.

Shares in Sportingbet (UK:SBT: news, chart, profile) , which were suspended last week when the news emerged, dropped by 38% in morning trading.

Peers were mixed, with 888 Holdings (UK:888: news, chart, profile) down 1%, PartyGaming (UK:PRTY: news, chart, profile) up 0.2% and Empire Online (UK:EOL: news, chart, profile) up 2.2%.

Sportingbet also said Monday that its chairman Peter Dicks was granted $50,000 bail in New York last week and is due to attend a further hearing Thursday to consider his transfer to Louisiana, where he has been charged with breaking state laws that forbid gambling via the Internet.