Chapter Two; pages 39-41

Along with the bonus program BOS really enjoyed littering mailboxes across the country with obnoxious mailers. Usually every sales representative would get a handful of calls every week where the prospective gambler or the girlfriend/wife parent of the prospective gambler would request that they be taken off of the mailer list. The first time I got one of these calls I was told to ignore it and Claude was in earshot of me when I mentioned this and said, “take down their name and address and I will make sure to increase the mailers”. This was the running joke that was taken seriously in the sales office where complaints over mailers were strictly ignored. It’s not too surprising when one of the charges against BOS and Mr. Ripner is abuse of the US postal service. It’s unfortunate but there are business owners that do not always know advertising laws, that’s why large companies should and normally do utilize professional advertising agencies or professionals from agencies.

The online gaming industry has primarily promoted within putting people in charge of advertising with no professional background in advertising that are unaware of advertising laws. This is apparent still with many companies using the likeness of professional athletes, professional sports team logos, etc. in their advertising. These are more infractions against the online gaming industry that are widespread where the US government could start cracking down on companies with regularity and both athletes and organizations would have the right to take civil action against these companies. The other day I saw one of the most despicable online gaming advertisements with the using the likeness of the recently deceased Pat Tillman of the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL and the Army Rangers who perished in Afghanistan.
As for the complaints from people about mailers, once a person says they do not want to be bothered whether via telephone or the mail the business must stop otherwise it constitutes harassment and there are penalties for this. I was aware of this and assumed Mr. Ripner knew about it also.

Ironically the two things that Claude rejected during my time with BOS were the RV luxury coaches and the taxes. Eventually he would utilize the RVs but somehow the concept got whored by greed. Allegedly monitors were used in the mobile vehicles to sign up new customers when it was just supposed to be used as an advertising tool where consumers could make up their own decisions in the privacy of their own home. The use of computers on board to sign up customers became gambling paraphernalia which cannot be transported across state lines. An overzealous employee ended up signing up and undercover law enforcement officer on the spot in what could have been construed as a set up but the fact is BOS had some problems controlling illicit activity by some employees. As the owner the responsibility falls on Claude and his Cousin Shaun didn’t help matters by drumming up laughter about illicit behavior provoking employees to be bad little representatives in public. I assume these are some of the multiple charges that he has to answer to the federal prosecutors.
Whether these are infractions of Claude or his employees I don’t know but as a business owner he has to answer to the illicit actions.

Claude didn't think he ever had to take responsibility for any actions done by representatives of BOS. Hypocritically he felt any other business owner was responsible for their employee’s mistakes. He was the guy that would work someone to death for a few bucks and I wouldn’t be surprised if he docked them pay for failing to meet a dress code or anything petty that he could find. He would eventually fine me with some costs for hiring mistakes of mine. I had no problem with that. I just had a problem when he wasn’t consistent and followed his own rules. He liked to change the rules for his benefit.

As an industry leader it’s the responsibility of that leader to set the benchmark for all others, otherwise you will not be a leader for long. In regards to taxes Claude would have nothing to do with it. I know he made millions from his business but he could have saved his free-behind by easing up on the greed and sharing the wealth. Claude didn’t like to share the wealth. Even if he didn’t like sharing the wealth he could have passed the tax dollars off onto the customers by limiting and eliminating bonuses. It might not have been a great short term idea but in the long run where would a customer rather play with? A company that is endorsed by the US government where taxes or contributions are being paid or with a company that is offering a 60% sign up bonus which in small print states to achieve that bonus you have to refer two friends, have a minimum sign up, and lose a certain amount that you will get back at the end of the football season. As a gambler I don’t think about losing. Also as a consumer I hate small print and stipulations, it reeks of double talk.

So no taxes; Claude would not pay any government and he would also shortchange everyone from the telephone man to the customer that won too much. Anything he could keep he kept. It was amazing the amount of dollars I was able to persuade out of him for his radio campaigns but then again that had a hidden “Charlie Victory” self imposed discount on the end which was the classic Ripner shortchanging based on renegotiating and the threat of default on payment.

Claude spent a lot of money but he was also irrationally cheap at times that made no sense. An example of Claude’s irrational penny pinching was evident with his PBX telephone systems. He would buy used PBX boxes for half the price and it showed on game day when the calls were coming in from gamblers and new sign-ups the system would often overload and break down. BOS was truly a factory with all its advertising to get people to send in money. Despite having a sizable staff of customer service people they were expected to weed out the scammers as opposed to take care of the customer. Customer retention was below average for the industry by comparison for other online gaming companies I have represented over the years.
Shaun was also a pain in the ass when it came to penny pinching. I am not sure if it was ordered from above but he would make sales guys and customer service bring in your own pens or pencils as he wanted to eliminate extra office expenses. If you didn’t have one than you had to go to supplies and sign for a $.10 Bic pen and return it at the end of the day. He also would bitch about recycling paper and check to make sure potentially useful paper with one clear side on it was not thrown in the garbage. The recycling is great but checking the garbage cans was overboard. All of my reports were printed out on the backside of re-used sign-up sheets and other reusable documents. This was certainly an oddity when going down to the VIP room which doubled as the board room. I was surprised I never gave a report and then rambled right into an individual customers deposit amount accidentally. It was also amazing that I was able to stay so organized; although I did accidentally take out a list of about 4000 gamblers which I have held onto to this day.




*Television character from 1970’s sitcom, “Three’s Company” played by Don Knotts and known for his outlandish mismatched wardrobe and lack of style.