Almost a week ago, Starnet Communications was talking about concentrating its online activity in gambling exclusively. But a striking police raid on its offices here last Friday may well have pushed the company to move quicker - it's put all 61 of its adult Web sites up for sale.
Over a hundred Vancouver police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers raided Starnet's offices here, looking for illegal porn and gambling materials. Starnet denies violating Canadian laws, which regulate porn and online betting more strictly than even the United States.
Starnet built its success at first on the adult industry and was preparing to move to the main NASDAQ composite board when the raid occurred. Other Canada-based online gambling companies seemed to move to dissociate themselves with Starnet in the wake of the raid. And Starnet stock took a 70 percent drop after the raid.
