Gangsters feel at home in
Costa Rica
by Roberto Castiglioni
Similar to any other human activity, the offshore industry has its thugs and undesirables.
With the exceptions of thieves, or owners of sports books that tanked in past years, the largest concentration of non-recommendable individuals in operation can be found in Costa Rica.
We are obviously not talking about the handful of bookmakers who incurred into Uncle Sam’s quest for “human blood” by indicting illegal bookmakers. These look like nuns compared to the examples we will later mention.
Like a well known and respected bookmaker told us months ago, Costa Rica is the ideal country for people who prefer anarchy over an organized society. The government is so disorganized that it simply forgets to renew the sports book tax for 2004.
“It’s the best place in the world,” this bookmaker told us. “The government merely knows we are here, but they don’t know who we are and where we are located.”
In this grotesque, but very realistic scenario, undesirables enjoy an easy life.
A few years ago a well known book hired a deadbeat to place calls from the area code where one of their hottest players lived. Needless to say, the bets places by the hired deadbeat were all losers.
This doesn’t seem to be an isolated case. Recently, the checkered past of a colorful thug (and sole owner of a well established brand now operating out of Costa Rica) returned under the spotlights as he decided to “convince” one watchdog owner to shut his mouth by having him bullied by his private army of so called bodyguards.
A few years ago a lawyer representing an owed customer showed up at the office of the owner of a large sports book. He decided to leave the office empty handed when the thug showed him a gun. He thought he was safe out of the building. Four blocks away from the book, his car was stopped by a group of unfriendly Colombians who nearly beat the lawyer to death.
Another story concerns the criminal who nearly beat one of his clerks to death to set an example to his other employees. The same individual distinguished himself by helping a known scammer embezzle several million dollars.
Needless to say, thanks to the Costa Rican anarchy regime, all these crimes went unpunished.
These thugs and criminals, apart from being the true embarrassment of the industry, all share the same common denominator - they are the worst enemies of the gaming world.
Their modus operandi fuel most of the anti-gambling campaigns. Their actions are constantly brought as example by anti-gaming legislators that the industry as a whole is a nest of rotten apples.
This is obviously not the case. Thugs represent the minority of all operators, yet their criminal actions taint the entire gaming community.
Something needs to be done. Given the Costa Rica authorities proverbial lack of attention to the problem, serious and well-respected operators need to come together and lobby against these undesirables before it’s too late.
However, the true factor which can indeed make the difference is the real fuel of the industry - players. Punters are a crucial element in the elimination process of criminals from this industry. The days of turning their head the other way and not see these warning signs are over.
Bettors must stop sending their money and giving their action to operations run by thugs. This is the most effective way to purge this scum from the gaming industry.