Gambling911.com Founder Discusses Ken Weitzner
As many Gambling911.com readers may know, Gambling911.com founder Chris Costigan once worked for TheRx.com, a website owned and operated by Kenneth "The Shrink" Weitzner. This past weekend, Weitzner and his wife Jackie's bodies were found in their Chesapeake, Virginia home. The deaths are being ruled a double suicide.
Costigan spoke candidly about his relationship with Weitzner.
Tom Somach: How did you first learn of the deaths of Ken "The Shrink" Weitzner and his wife Jackie?
Chris Costigan: I was first told Ken and Jackie (his wife) were killed in an ‘accident' and my first reaction was ‘Jackie too?' Ken lived a very precarious life but his wife seemed very grounded. Then to hear this was a ‘suicide pact', I have trouble believing that one.
Tom Somach: Trouble believing that one? Did you think the news was not true when it first came out?
Chris Costigan: Yes for about two days we were of the opinion that these stories were not true. None of us could get any sort of official confirmation and we were all working with other websites like MajorWager.com and Clevfan over there and we were all completely baffled by the lack of information that was out there and conflicting reports. When officials finally began releasing information, they were not exactly forthcoming and some of what they were saying was conflicting. We were told, for example, that there would be no toxicology tests performed, which seemed outrageous. A police spokesperson then advised the local newspaper that toxicology tests were being performed and results would not be available for several weeks. Last night authorities advised us they would not be releasing any further information.
This is unusual because you will recall when Ernest Scherer, Sr. and his wife were found murdered in their homes, the Almeda Police worked closely with Gambling911.com to get any leads in the case. Ultimately, the son was arrested. I understand that authorities are ruling this case a double suicide, but they just haven't been very forthcoming and this has led a lot of people to suggest there is a "cover up".
Tom Somach: You worked for Ken a couple of years but severed ties with him long ago. What was that all about?
Chris Costigan: I never really had any ill-feelings towards the guy like a lot of other people and still communicated with him for some time after leaving The Prescription. But ultimately his behavior towards people I was close to caused me to cut all ties with him. He would never take accountability for his actions beyond maybe saying he was wrong, then doing the same thing again just a few days later. It got tiring after a while and I preferred not to have anything to do with him.
Our working relationship was volatile to say the least. Ken was a compulsive gambler who bet with his own advertisers while calling himself a ‘watchdog'. On more than one occasion Ken would refuse to report on sportsbooks that he knew were having financial difficulty until he could get all his own money out, and I would approach him on this repeatedly. Sometimes I would find other means of reporting on the deadbeat book then Ken would come in on his posting forum and comment on how wrong I was to do so. I would often stop speaking to him for days and eventually he would offer some type of half-assed support on his forums, usually after he was paid most of his money from the troubled book. This was a time when the industry was still in its infancy and there were plenty of fly-by-night books cropping up on his website, then TheRx.com, as ‘paying' advertisers. It wasn't just me. There were others on his staff who advised him not to put these books up on his site and ultimately he would do so anyway, often with the grand announcement that he "knows the owners have deep pockets and readers could trust them."
Tom Somach: Buzz Daly said The Shrink was obsessed with being number one in his space and fought fiercely with the big player in town at the time, BettorsWorld.com. What is your take on this?
Chris Costigan: He was a pioneer in the online sportsbook news and forum sector for sure. When I joined what was then ThePrescription.com, I had previously been writing for BettorsWorld and Ken desperately wanted to build his site into a news venue for the industry. We accomplished this rather quickly in 2000 covering the Jay Cohen trial. Ken had already brought on some solid people to run his website and make it competitive in terms of aesthetics. These same individuals have been running Gambling911.com now for years and we've enjoyed great success using the same formula. Once the ad dollars came rolling in (and they did so quickly), Ken began spending more money to develop his posting forum and enjoyed great success with that later on. In the beginning he told me how depressed he was about not being able to compete with BettorsWorld.
Tom Somach: What role, if any, did his wife play in running the website.
Chris Costigan: When I was working with Ken, Jackie never involved herself with the (offshore sports betting) industry and knew very little about it. I'm not even sure if she knew how to operate a computer to be honest.
She would go on trips with us to visit advertisers and that was about the extent of it. It seemed she started keeping a more watchful eye on Ken and his business after learning of one of his affairs and would not allow him to travel alone to Costa Rica for some time thereafter as I understand things, which was probably smart on her part.
Tom Somach: One of his affairs?
Chris Costigan: Ken was involved with one of the female employees and his wife later found out about this. I'm not sure how. This news became public on the forums. I knew the girl but didn't know the extent of Ken's relationship with her. Jackie on about two occasions would call me with Ken on the other line asking who the girl was, if she was beautiful, where she lived, etc... I would basically tell her I did not want to get involved. At this time I was no longer working with Ken but we still corresponded and I pretty much realized I'd have to sever ties with the guy since he refused to own up to his infidelities and was dragging everyone else into his mess. I felt really bad for Jackie at the time but she was also casting blame on the wrong people since Ken did not have enough backbone and preferred to make others into scapegoats in order to salvage his marriage.
Tom Somach: What was his relationship like with Jackie when you knew him?
Chris Costigan: She came across as a loving wife and I'm sure a very good mother. She was very ‘motherly' and a nice person. That was my impression of her. At times she seemed more like a mother to Ken. She would give him Antabuse prior to his flying down to visit any of the sportsbook operations when I was with him since she knew I liked to drink. Ken would call his wife when we arrived at the hotel to let her know he had unpacked his clothing right away and folded everything neatly in the closet. When he talked to her he was like a little kid deftly scared of displeasing her. Ken loved to manipulate impressionable young girls but Jackie maintained tight reigns over him much of the time but, like I said earlier, she was not involved in his line of work so when he traveled, he tended to act out."
Tom Somach: Could you ever have imagined something like this (a double suicide) would happen?
Chris Costigan: I haven't stopped thinking about this. It is really disturbing. Ken was self-destructive without the right people around him but I have no idea what his life has been like in recent years. It seems like he had a good family support system around him from all I have read these past few days. I hadn't heard much about him and I haven't followed the guy or his site in the past two years. I never thought he'd be capable of committing suicide though. I'm as shocked as everyone else about his wife. As everyone else has already expressed, I feel really bad for the family and grandkids. More will come out and we will be covering it as we have with past tragedies involving the industry, and there have been so many of them unfortunately.
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
