Chapter Two; pages 27-29

Roy bragged a lot, yapping about his athletic exploits, specifically his 46 inch vertical leap in basketball. I think George heard enough and took a handful of giggling sales guys and Roy out to the basketball court with a tape measure. He promptly measured off 46 inches on the basketball hoop pole and put up a piece of tape at the 46 inch mark on the pole than called the short, bald, Jersey boy on his claims.

The look on Roy’s face was priceless. He was staring at the reality of 46 inches straight in the eye, almost, as the tape came up to his chest. He was now very confused and wondering up in that simple brain of his, “how would anyone dare call him out”, after all he was a tough Squirrel from the Royal New Jersey Navy and the world full of Arizona desert yokels, baby faced college boys, and one California sunshine softy presumably would never call out his street toughness. Maybe measuring sticks were not universal and varied between Costa Rica and New Jersey. Roy was backed into a corner like a defenseless mole on rock based ground surrounded by a bunch of laughing hyenas mocking him to scurry away on his stubby little legs. He defended himself as best as he could with dull buck mole teeth to no avail.

Initially, he refused to take a leap of shame by stating that it was stupid, he didn’t need to prove anything to anyone, and it had been a long time since he had jumped. These words of “mole threat” were targeted towards each and every salesman if they didn’t back off. There was no escaping this challenge with George, his immediate superior pressing. Roy looked up into the heavens for either a little help from above or a sudden raging typhoon to save his scrawny self from embarrassment. The little mole was left with only one choice by the laughing hyenas that wanted to see a leap and he took to his first attempt at 46 inches. His first leap was a little bit short of the Spud Webb (former Atlanta Hawk and NBA slam dunk champion at 5’6” in height) exaggerations as he peaked out at a meek 13 inches amidst a mild bunch of snickering onlookers. Guys were laughing as Roy would have tripped over a John Holmes erection. Not to be completely embarrassed Roy started making excuses about stretching and getting a running start. George, although smiling was trying to keep a straight face while offering to help Roy out with his stretches while heckling and laughing was getting into full gear from the hyena like salesmen. After enough egging on the pack of laughing salesmen convinced Roy he needed to take another shot and would be vindicated if he came close. The second leap was significantly greater but a real tear jerker at 19 inches as Roy tried to bend and tuck his knees up under his ass hoping to somehow squeeze out another 33 inches of vertical leap. The laughter was so hard that guys were crying as Roy’s face turned beet red while George lambasted him for trying to cheat his leap by tucking and bending his legs.

Needless to say Roy was soon out of the sales office as he self-deported himself to customer service rather than face a sales staff on a daily basis that was ready to call out any of his other claims as bullshit.

George was great to be around and I figure to maintain contact with him throughout the rest of my life. In a recent meeting at a local watering hole in Costa Rica he shared with me his opinion that the best years for online sports betting were behind us along with other stories of the Costa Rican online gaming lifestyle. Fact is the industry and the lure of Costa Rica brought many celebrities down to BOS over the years. Three prominent members from the cast of “That 70's Show” appeared for the grand opening of the VIP facilities, former “Bay Watch Babe”, Tracey Bingham showed up for the party also. Not that they were gamblers but there were many famous names that bet online with BOS. One celebrity, a prominent world boxing champion partook in one of George’s barbecues and was kind enough to pose for a picture of the big guy (George) knocking him to the ground with a posed right hook. That was some of the high profile fun of Costa Rica but in reality the wild excitement of the early years was behind but the day for turning online gaming into legitimate business will make it greater than before.

Legitimizing the industry means giving back and taxing. I predict than online gaming can be enjoyed by all and it will create programs that will benefit people by giving back some of the profits. I am a firm believer that all business has a responsibility and that responsibility is respect for the consumer. Business is not all about take; you have to or should give back.

George introduced me to one of the most well known night spots in Costa Rica. The Del Rey Hotel a modest hotel with some of the warmest friendliest women you would ever want to meet for a few dollars. I know George will not get into any trouble for me mentioning his venturing over to the local brothel because his girlfriend Lorraine accompanied us to the lovely house of competitive females in their tight provocative clothing, manicured nails, lip gloss, make-up, and more. The funny thing about the Hotel Del Rey is they don’t like letting non-working girls in the door; there were ladies that would accompany us to the Del Rey that were checked for their health cards at the door which kept them at the front door just long enough to convince security that they were not unhealthy evening entertainment but just casual drinkers that were joining their male mates.

Any and every night could be a fun night in Costa Rica which really made the online gaming industry exciting. It was great for socializing too outside of the office with other executives, employees and sales people.

I always wanted to get as much information as possible beyond my personal knowledge on the gaming industry plus just buying a sales guy drinks all night was a great motivator for them to get me the information I needed in regards to getting a good feel for the customers. The information I needed most in the sales room was tracking customers. There was no science to it but basic information about magazines, radio, internet, etc. could lead me in the right direction of what was working and the method used in most call centers was just asking the customer where they heard about BOS. The trick was not to lose the potential gambler with too many questions on the phone because the gambler just wants to set up a betting account he has a game in mind that he wants to jump on immediately and will say anything to get to the part where he deposits money. I understood this and didn’t want to lose a single customer. So a quick answer of magazine, radio, etc. might be the only information a sales representative can get from the in-a-hurry customer that was all too anxious to sign up but didn't have the time to chit chat and give the exact specific about where he heard about BOS. Signing up gamblers for an offshore gaming company was like shooting fish in a barrel for a sales person but the sales person did need to know who he could rush through the sign up and who he could take his time with to get vital information. The sales reps knew that if they got me basic enough information I could figure out enough to know what advertising was working.