They included Mr Kaplan's siblings, Neil Kaplan and Lori Kaplan-Multz, former BetonSports employee Tim Brown, and four people connected with a marketing firm used by Gary Kaplan's gambling businesses. Lawyers were negotiating a $1bn bail bond that would allow him to be freed, although he was likely to be electronically tagged and prevented from leaving the environs of St Louis, Missouri.Last week Mr Carruthers was removed as chief executive and from the company board by BetonSports. The company said its insurers would foot Mr Carruthers' legal bill. His arrest, while changing planes in Dallas two weeks ago, sent shares in London-listed online gambling companies plunging. Rivals, though, have argued that the indictment of Mr Carruthers and others linked to BetonSports' maverick founder Gary Kaplan does not presage a wider clampdown by the US authorities against the industry.Several other figures indicted in the US action also pleaded not guilty in St Louis yesterday.

The injunction was extended for two weeks. Mr Carruthers is among 11 people and four companies - including BetonSports - named in a 22-count indictment alleging racketeering, fraud, tax evasion and offences under American laws forbidding the taking of bets over the telephone wires.Mr Carruthers, 48, was led into court in handcuffs. And BetonSports itself failed to send a legal team to fight an injunction that has shut down its lucrative US betting site. The book division continued to improve margins, with profits rising 38 per cent despite only a 2 per cent rise in sales.. David Carruthers, the fired chief executive of BetonSports, appeared in a Missouri court yesterday, shackled and in prison clothes, to plead not guilty to charges that he ran an illegal online gambling operation.

Regarding her own position, Ms Scardino said she is "not going anywhere".Ms Scardino boasted that Penguin had more bestselling titles in the US and the UK in the first half than ever before. Ms Scardino said that 50 per cent of advertisements were sold as part of a wider global package.Asked whether the FT was up for sale, Ms Scardino said Pearson has a rolling review of each of its units. But she said a sale of the business has not been a big issue among its investors. The advertising uplift came predominantly from the financial and luxury goods sectors.