Gary Kaplan and BetonSports Profiled by River Front TimesKristen Hinman of the River Front Times, a local St. Louis, MO paper, has written an extraordinary piece related to BetonSports, its founder Gary Kaplan and a fascinating look back at what would become one of the largest offshore gambling establishments catering to the US market.
I had an opportunity to speak extensively with Ms. Hinman and she attributes a quote to me as well. She has worked tirelessly on this piece for the last two to three months. What I love most is that she takes time to paint a different picture of Gary Kaplan with quotes attributed to a colleague of Gary's who just so happened to be a competitor as well.
"Gary is a stand-up guy," this individual, who preferred to remain anonymous for the purpose of this piece, told Hinman. "We'd speak with politicians, meet with the presidents of the country and high-ranking officials about more regulation and better licensing, and he deferred to my position, never felt the need to undermine or compete with me."
Kaplan was technically a competitor of this gentleman who added, "If I was going to the beach, he would lend me his helicopter."
I was happy to see this quote from Gary colleague and the opinion is shared by many despite what one might read elsewhere. Both men I know and like but they are an acquired taste for sure. Gary and "lazy" don't mix, which could explain why so many people seem not to like him. Gary's work ethic was exemplary to say the least, which would explain why he was able to build his company into one of the biggest in a relatively short period of time.
As I have told the press on numerous occasions, Gary Kaplan was terribly misunderstood. The Gary I knew was tough, intimidating but loved the online gambling industry and regretted going public later on. He would never have shut down the company.
Personally, I hope Larry Walters is right. Here is what he had to say:
Lawrence Walters, a Florida-based attorney who specializes in Internet law and once advised BOS, believes the U.S. Attorney's case has problems. The Wire Act, he says, "Was intended to address your run-of-the-mill bookies who were accepting bets with paper notes and taking them to organized crime families. That's not what is going on with Internet gambling. These are multimillion-dollar companies listed on foreign stock exchanges, operating in countries with licenses issued by their own governments."
For an interesting discussion on this topic go here
Read the piece in its entirety here
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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com
Originally published October 11, 2007 6:01 pm ET
