A Big Thank You From Nasa

[Betonsports.com]

First off, a big thank you to our tens of thousands of valued customers for their continued support over the years despite numerous attempts by others such as risktaker/maxtheknife to slander our company on this and other public message boards.

Second, kudos to Mr. Allen for presenting NASA and the industry as a whole in what we feel to be a very fair assessment in Friday's much anticipated story in the Wall Street Journal.

[bucky]

Anybody been able to read this article online? Got an address?

[Landmark95]

Apparently, a subscription by credit card is need to enter the Journal site. The copy does appear in another forum, however.

[sportshobby]

I wonder how the WSJ missed the story about players being stiffed . . .

[Betonsports.com]

Sportshobby, it's amazing that Jeff has not picked up on the fact that you are a shill for another sportsbook.

[freewilly]

Betonsports: you'd be amazed at how many regular poster are shills for sportsbooks. fortunately jeff does know who most of them are.

[Betonsports.com]

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica -- With football season getting ready to kick off in the U.S., this small Central American country is set to intercept a hefty chunk of North American cash.

That's because Costa Rica has become the offshore-bookie capital of the world, surpassing the Caribbean island of Antigua in an arena that has sparked plenty of controversy in the U.S. Drawn by a lack of regulation, good telecommunications and a cheap labor force, an estimated 70 to 100 sports-betting shops have opened here in the past three years. They range from mom-and-pop affairs to massive NASA Sports International, which occupies two cavernous floors in a downtown mall and is beefing up to more than 500 operators at computer stations to take bets on toll-free lines.

Not surprisingly, U.S. law-enforcement authorities are blowing the foul whistle. A 1961 federal statute outlaws the use of phone lines or wires to transmit bets within the U.S. or between the U.S. and foreign countries and in recent years has been successfully used to prosecute offshore violators. For example, the Florida-based owners of SDB Global, a sports bookmaker that operated out of a free-trade zone on the outskirts of town here, shut the place down in 1998, just before the main owner pleaded guilty to bookmaking charges in New York federal court and the company paid a stiff fine.

But stamping out -- or even curbing -- a popular vice in an age when globalization and the Internet have rendered national borders virtually irrelevant is no mean feat. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer says, "It's a problem that bookies have moved from the corner to Costa Rica, but the bigger problem is that the bad guys are trying to use technology -- be it the phone or the Internet -- to shield themselves from prosecution."

The money involved is far from penny ante. Sebastian Sinclair, a gaming analyst with Christiansen Capital Advisors LLC, figures that Americans bet as much as $50 billion a year on sports events, not including horse racing, and that more than $15 billion of that takes place through offshore bookmakers. The fastest-growing segment of that by far is bets placed through the Internet. Mr. Sinclair estimates that American sports bettors last year wagered more than $9 billion online, an amount he expects nearly to triple by next year.

(Another widely quoted figure for online gambling, $1.2 billion, refers to revenue, meaning the net amount consumers were out of pocket after factoring in both winning and losing bets last year; moreover, it encompasses both sports betting and virtual casino games.)

Indicating the scope of an individual business, the 30-something owner of Betmaker.com here sold his company to Sportingbet.com of the United Kingdom in May, for $15 million. He now spends his days on the beach.

Bookmakers here and in Antigua invariably profess amazement that their activities are subject to prosecution in the U.S. They argue that the move offshore has been good for the consumer in many ways. For instance, they point out, bookies in the U.S. routinely allow their clients to gamble on credit, at usurious interest rates; if clients lose badly and can't pay, it isn't unusual for the debts to be sold to organized-crime members for collection.

But offshore, there isn't much need for knee-breaking: Gamblers almost always have to deposit money when they sign up for the service, either through wire transfer or credit card; once their prepaid fund is exhausted, they have to replenish it or stop.

"It's a clean business," rasps William "Billy" Scott, a former Toledo, Ohio, bookie who served time in federal prison on racketeering charges before starting World Wide Tele Sports in Antigua. "People send in their money, they win, they get their money sent back to them."

In Costa Rica, Eduardo Agami, an Ecuadorian national, feels that people have a distorted view of the betting business. "There's this concept of the Wild West and clandestine atmosphere that sports books have" says Mr. Agami, who is one of the owners of a betting business on the site of the defunct SDB Global with the similar name of SBG Global. He adds: "We're trying to take it into the corporate realm."

Still, even some industry boosters worry about the explosion in bookie joints and the potential for customers' getting stiffed. In Antigua, at least, each sports bookmaker must pay a $75,000 annual licensing fee and submit to oversight by a director of offshore gaming, who can mediate disputes if customers feel slighted. But in Costa Rica and much of the rest of the offshore-betting world, there is no government control, leaving consumer protection to Web sites such as the************.com, run by a retired Virginia psychiatrist named Kenneth Weitzner.

Mr. Weitzner, who uses the screen name The Shrink, admits his policing is less than comprehensive, not least because he takes advertising from the sports bookmakers. "I'd love to share this responsibility with people who have more experience and know-how," he says.

Whatever the pros and cons of offshore betting, it has been great for the Costa Rican economy. Demand for bet-taking clerks is so strong that two schools have been formed to train them. Thousands of Costa Ricans, many of them college students, have signed on to work for the betting shops, and the number is growing exponentially as football season draws close.

The biggest bookmaker, NASA International, moved here from Antigua in 1997. Business is so good that the company is putting in a swimming pool and health club at its site in the San Pedro mall. It is installing and leasing satellite connections and land lines that will carry the equivalent of more than 2,000 phone lines, some of which it hopes to rent to banks and other businesses in the off-season.

The head of the operation, a powerfully built man who travels with bodyguards, declines to give his real name for fear of raising his profile. "Everybody assumes when a guy like me gets as big as I do, there's Mafia involvement," he says, stressing that there is none in his operation. "I have a baseball bat in my closet, but I've never broken a leg."

[Max the Knife]

Mr Chump runs this place chasing wise guys. NASA all you want is same as BOMANS 50-500. I think it is lot of bullsh-t that you are largest in world. You could no shine Benny Binion's shoes. The cut all this sh-t of being the largest. If your the largest why are you giving 20% bonuses.

[mls]

NASA admits they lost 500 dimes and refused to pay. NASA claims the winner was a beard for Billy Walters. Billy Walters in an interview scoffed at the suggestion.

I know this. You accept a 100 dime postup and the guy wins 500 dimes you pay. Period.

[TinCup]

Why can't NASA just accept the fact that they lost money and pay. If you are man enough to take a play, then you should be man enough to pay the wager. I guess NASA isn't man enough.

[ShiftySheik]

Nasa, Why not cut back your advertising budget and pay your $500K debt with interest. You are a disgrace to the industry. It's obvious that Mr. Allen didn't do enough reasearch for his article.

[phatboy]

NASA INT.

I personally have nothing against you stiffing wiseguys like Billy Walters, As I posted in another thread, I dislike these people in the worst way because of what they do to get the line in there favor when they have to, BUT You NASA have never answered any ?s on this matter, Instead you choose to ignore the situation. Well when you do that People are going to kick You around every chance they get. As far as Im concerned You and every sportsbook out there is my enemy I hate you with such a passion that I can see you go belly up and as long as my money isnt in there I could care less.
The reason for this hate, How can you truly defeat your oppenent without having some anomosity towards him, You and all sportsbooks dangle a carrot we Bite and then most end up losing there shirts.
Back to Billy Walters,
If it wasnt Billy Walters I would be in an uproar about your lack of payment, EVEN THOUGH MORALLY ITS STILL WRONG WHAT YOUR DOING BY NOT PAYING THE SC*MBAG, A part of me is very happy about it.

But Im sure you know how much this episode has hurt your book, It makes it look like you only want amatuers and no pro's ,scalpers are the same to you because they have a shot at some of your bankroll.

I will never open an acount with YOU because you didnt pay the SC*MBAG in ?.

Do yourselves a favor and redeem yourselves NOT BY PAYING SC*M BAG BILLY BACK but by taking the money that you owe him and despersing it to the people who have joined and stuck with your very controversial book.

Raise your bonuses to 20% instead of the usual 10% others give out and until you reached the 500K limit.
Guys like Billy Walters have screwed people out of there money many times by betting the wrong side of a game infront of people so he could come back and take the otherside.
This would be the ultimate payback.
NASA Would look like Robin Hood Stealing from the rich who is a theif anyway and giving the the not so wealthy.

Just one mans opinion.

[grover]

Phatboy
So I guess your point is its OK to stiff successfull sports gamblers, and give that money to the squares and losing players. An overall pointless post on your part.

[reno]

Phatboy, you've got it backwards. The sportsbooks, in general, should not be considered your enemy; they should be considered your friend, your OPPORTUNITY(to make money). Billy Walters is not the nicest man in the world. That is a given. I've heard people describe him as a worm and rat. But Billy, when he plays, represents OPPORTUNITY (to make money). Billy creates "steam," hence betting, scalping and middling opportunities. He's just like the Poker Players. Some people rely on IRAs for retirement; I rely on the Poker Players. And I'll rely on Billy if the government ever gets off his back and allows him to create some "steam" for scalpers/middlers.

Phatboy, my advice to you is to stop seeing yourself as the victim of evil outside forces, i.e., sportsbooks and line movers (or manipulators, as the case may be). See the glass as half-full instead of half-empty.

Now, a caveat: Although most books(and BMs) are your friend and OPPORTUNITY, certain books, like NASA, and BMs, like REALITY, are the enemy because they'll kick your butt out if you're sharper than they are. But the big books, the Don Best Premium Service books, for example, will simply use you to their advantage. They'll hang a number and want you to take it.

Learn from our mutual buddy Hammerin,' Stammerin' Hank, the terror of TJ. Hank is the ultimate OPPORTUNIST, and he loves the opportunity that BMs and Billy Walters offer. And so should you.

[phatboy]

Grover
Your not woth a response, But I will amuse myself with you a little bit.
I said give the money as an extra bonus to the clients they already have, Its no secret wiseguys bait the public when they know the public is trying to find out what there bets are.
They are not going to pay Billy Walters so I said why not give it to there clients as a bonus, This would be a nice way of taking care of the people who stuck with them and a great way of giving wiseguys like Billy Walters a taste of his own medicine.

Reno,

Hank shows me his tickets, Hank has me and my friends bet for him, If he wants more money bet and caliente doesnt allow more action from him, He tells me Hey can you go to the window and bet me this much or that much.

I like Hank and Steve I just dissagreed with what they did that one day and You know what They respect me a hell of alot more now.

So for the record Reno I acknowledge the great mind that Hank is. and I consider him a friend. He has seen my seasons in NBA and NFL He knows I know my Sh*t and thats without most of the info he has.

I followed his picks every monday night He was simply amazing.

And as far as the book being my enemy I need that mentallity, its an edge for me.
But I do understand what your saying and I think Slamdunk and yourselves are the only ones here at this forum with any real sense about handicapping and this art of wagering in general.
Therefore if your ever in Sandiego for a visit Its Dinner on me at either a fine Cajun, or Ruth Cris Steak house.

drop me a line at mafiaownsnfl@cs.com