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Online gambling firm Sportingbet has announced that the charges against its former chairman Peter Dicks, who was detained last September by US authorities , have been dropped.

In a statement, the company said that it 'has reached an amicable resolution with the St. Landry district attorney in the state of Louisiana' and that all warrants related to the case have been withdrawn.

Sportingbet has warned that the US is encouraging the creation of a black market through its online betting ban, after announcing it is taking a hit of £210m on the sale of its business Stateside.

Sportingbet has offloaded its US business for $1 following the States’ ban on internet gambling.

The deal, with Antigua-based Jazette Enterprises, has allowed the firm to get rid of $13.2m in debt and save the $14m it would have cost to close the operations down.

Shockwaves have been sent through the online gaming industry after the unexpected approval of anti-gambling legislation late on Friday in the US.

The laws – the first in the States to deal specifically with internet gaming - ban banks and credit card companies from processing payments for bets placed over the web.

Sportingbet has announced its chairman has been detained in the US while travelling on non-company business.

The British online gambling firm did not say whether Peter Dicks had been arrested, but immediately asked for its shares to be suspended "pending clarification of the situation".