Net Gambling Operator Convicted

A Woodmere, N.Y., man was convicted of operating an Antigua-based sports betting parlor that accepted bets over the Internet. Jay Cohen was the first defendant to stand trial in New York in a series of offshore Internet sports gambling cases brought under a federal law that makes it a crime to use phone lines to place bets. Ten other defendants have pleaded guilty. Prosecutors said Cohen, also of San Francisco, served as president of World Sports Exchange. Cohen, 33, faces as many as five years in prison on a conspiracy charge and two years in prison on each of seven sports betting counts.