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A news report by Gambling911.com publisher-editor-writer Christopher "Sting" Costigan yesterday revealed that Federal authorities have seized the hard drive from the computer of deceased gambling portal owner Ken "The Shrink" Weitzner, who killed himself three weeks ago.
The relevation is the first effort in "connecting the dots" of what is known to reveal what is unknown.
Rampant speculation has been all over the Internet the last few weeks as to why Weitzner did it.
There are two main theories.
The first theory is that Weitzner killed himself because he owed huge sums of money from gambing losses and was in financial ruin and couldn't pay.
The second theory is that Weitzner was about to be indicted, charged or arrested for gambling-related crimes, and believing prison was unavoidable, committed suicide.
Costigan's revelation, from a source close to both the Weitzner family and Chesapeake police, is the first concrete evidence that Federal authorities are investigating Weitzner, and gives credence to Theory #2 as to why "The Shrink" offed himself.
Costigan's scoop may also explain some cryptic comments Weitzner made on the posting forum of his website, Eye on Gambling (www.eog.com), shortly before he died.
In a post made on Wednesday, April 7, at 8:35 p.m. Eastern Time, Weitzner wrote: "I Will Be Away For Awhile. My wife and I will be going away for a trip. While we are gone, I have asked Mofome to be in charge of the day-to-day operations of EOG. I know it's the start of the slow season for many, including yours truly. I won't be posting while we are gone.
"It seems like EOG keeps getting better each day with so many new posters adding to the wealth of information that we already have from our old-timers. It's nice to know I can leave with people like Blondie, Ballwonder, Jimmy Hoffa and Diogee, amongst others, to help out.
"I feel like this place has always been a second home for me because of ALL OF YOU. Thanks from the bottom of my heart. I am grateful to be a part of this family and for all the support...Ken"
About three hours later in the EOG posting forum, at 11:25 p.m., someone using the online nickname "Joeybagadonuts" asks Weitzner, "This have anything to do with that gambling bust???"
The question referred to a series of arrests earlier that day in the New York area of suspected gambling agents, people who act as middlemen between credit bettors in the U.S. and offshore sportsbooks.
Two minutes after the question was posted, at 11:27 p.m., Weitzner wrote:
"Absolutely nothing. I am not a runner, a bookie or an agent. I just love to bet offshore. It's some time I want to give to my wife."
It was the last Internet forum post Weitzner would ever make--his corpse would be found three days later.
But what does it mean?
Nobody said anything to Weitzner about being a bookie or a runner, so why did he feel compelled to deny an accustation that hadn't even been made?
And no one accused him of being an agent either--he was simply asked if his leaving town had anything to do with some gambling arrests hundreds of miles away--so why did he feel the need to deny that too?
Was he a bookie or a runner or an agent?
And more importantly, did the authorities suspect he was any of those things?
More dots have to be connected, but a picture of what happened is finally starting to emerge.
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
