Cover Stories Spring 2005

Lakes Region Greyhound Track Execs Indicted in $200 Million Gambling Ring
Track Revenues Plummet Following Indictments

Belmont, New Hampshire: Lakes Region Greyhound Park general manager Richard Hart and assistant general manager Jonathan Broome were among 17 individuals arrested Jan. 14 on federal charges of operating an illegal off-shore gambling operation that allegedly brokered more than $200 million in bets on horse racing. Hart and Broome are facing numerous charges, including operating an illegal gambling business and money laundering.

The Hart family took over the track in 1991, forming the New Hampshire Gaming Association, a limited partnership that owns the racing license. Allan Hart is the general partner; the limited partners are his sister-in-law Joan Hart and Vincent DiCesare of Massachusetts, a longtime friend of Allan Hart's. DiCesare owns 40 percent of NHGA. Richard Hart is the nephew of Allan Hart and one of the three sons of Joan Hart.

Richard Hart, 45, and Broome, 49, were arraigned in a New York City federal courtroom Jan. 18. Both men had appeared earlier in U. S. District Court in Concord and were freed on $100,000 unsecured bail. The indictment seeks the forfeiture of at least $200 million in assets, including homes in several states. Hart's $589,000 Londonderry residence is among those assets, along with his accounts at Laconia Savings Bank and Sovereign Bank.

The charges are the result of a two-year federal investigation into a gambling business that operated over four years, principally in New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Florida and Nevada. The indictment alleges that Hart and Broome, through a Concord company, the International Players Association (IPA), funneled bettors' funds between the Uvari Group and Euro Off-Track on the Isle of Man in the United Kingdom. Federal prosecutors allege that IPA was part of a trans-Atlantic money laundering scheme. Richard Hart is a principal and chief executive of IPA; Broome is an emloyee.

Gambino Crime Family Involved
According to prosecutors, three alleged associates of the notorious New York-based Gambino organized crime family - Gerald Uvari of Coconut Creek, Florida; Cesare Uvari of Marlboro, New Jersey; and Anthony Uvari of Las Vegas - along with two other indicted men, acted as intermediaries between bettors and several off-site gambling businesses where gamblers could place bets by telephone or over the Internet. Court documents refer to the intermediary organization as the Uvari Group.

Prosecutors charged that the scheme allowed bettors to set up anonymous accounts for illegal gambling at off-site facilities, including operations in Great Britain, Curacao, North Dakota and Oklahoma. Each account had a Social Security number that belonged to one of Uvari Group's five partners, which was used to report income and losses to the Internal Revenue Service. That allowed bettors to avoid paying taxes on winnings and allowed the five partners to claim gambling losses that were not their own. One of the indicted Uvari Group members, Anthony Uvari, received a tax refund of $156,794 for the 2003 tax year.

According to the indictment, "[Richard] Hart transferred the funds he received either from bettors or the Uvari Group to a betting account maintained at Euro Off-Track for the benefit of the Uvari Group."

AG Seeks License Revocation
At a press conference held March 8, New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte recommended that the state's Pari-Mutuel Commission revoke the operating license of Lakes Region Greyhound Park, charging it is "intimately connected" to IPA.

Ayotte's report to the commission, supporting her request for the license revocation, was made public March 11. The report states the track's partners are part owners of IPA, which allegedly conducted an illegal gambling business at the track using track employees and telephones. Ayotte alleges that Allan Hart's three nephews, Richard, Kenneth and Robert, are part owners of the track but the three brothers tried to hide their ownership shares behind a trust set up by their mother. Ayotte also alleges that NHGA knowingly hired people with past gambling convictions. The three brothers were all convicted of various gambling-related crimes in Massachusetts between 1988 and 1991. Richard and Kenneth each held managerial positions at Lakes Region for more than a decade.

State law prohibits track owners from employing anyone convicted of gambling-related crimes within ten years of their convictions. The state is now in the process of re-evaluating licensing and background check procedures.

Track Closed, Sold to Highest Bidder
In late March, the Attorney General's Office and majority owner Allan Hart reached a "framework" for a settlement that would allow the current ownership to surrender the license before the revocation hearing scheduled for May 3. Hart family members, who had been battling for weeks over the track's racing license and over who among them had the right to sell the property, met in a closed-door conference at Belknap County Superior Court April 7 and agreed in principle to accept bids for the track. An advertisement for bids appeared in the Daily Racing Form the following day. Bids on the property were to be accepted by track attorney Ronald Cook until 5:00 p.m. April 18. The court received a total of six bids, including one from Richard Hart.

The Lakes Region track was formally closed at noon on Wednesday, April 27. One hour later, Superior Court Judge Harold Perkins approved its sale to David Johnston, a local developer, and Christopher Gistis, the CEO of a hotel management company in Massachusetts, who submitted the winning bid of $4.1 million. Although the buyers are not in the racing business, they told the Union Leader they intend to continue greyhound racing at the track. NHGA surrendered its license to the commission May 2.

Sources: The Union Leader: John Distaso, Garry Rayno, Michael Cousineau;
Concord Monitor: Annmarie Timmins;
New Hampshire Business Review: Bob Sanders;
Associated Press Norma Love