The founder of a website that gives betting advice to gamblers is suing the owner of sports website Deadspin for defamation over an article that questioned his honesty and claimed he was profiting at his customers’ expense, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. RJ Bell, a Las Vegas oddsmaker who runs Pregame.com, alleges that the June 2016 article contains false and libelous statements that have hurt his reputation and cost him business. The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in New York state court against Gawker Media’s successor Gizmodo Media Group and the article’s author. Bell is seeking at least $10 million plus punitive damages. Bell is being represented by Charles Harder, the same lawyer who represented Hulk Hogan in his lawsuit against Gawker Media over the publication of the professional wrestler’s sex tape. Gawker was ultimately forced into bankruptcy following a $140 million judgment against it in the Hogan case. That lawsuit against Gawker was financed by venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who had been angered by an article published nearly a decade earlier that identified him as gay. Deadspin and its sister sites — but not Gawker.com — were ultimately sold following a bankruptcy auction to Univision Communications Inc.
