THE TRUTH BEHIND DIAMOND SPORTS

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ODU GURU
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By The Shrink
The Rx.com
June 3, 2003

http://www.therx.com/nm/templates/article.asp?articleid=1030&zoneid=2

There have been many rumors circulating about Diamond Sports the past couple of days.

These rumors include Diamond going out of business, firing 99 percent of its employees, downsizing, relocating, being bought out, merging, and so forth.

But what really is happening?

This morning, I spoke with Stretch, one of two main men behind Diamond. I asked him a lot of questions and found him to be forthright and direct.

Late last night and early this morning, Diamond Sports relocated and moved their office into the same building as CRIS. Diamond is not owned by CRIS, but just renting office space.

The transition went smoothly. They are back up on the Internet and have their phone lines going.

“Its business today as usual,” Stretch said.

In today's competitive market, many sports books are co-mingling their services with other sports books, merging, buying out one another and downsizing to cut costs.

In the case of Diamond Sports, it downsized by letting go 50-60 clerks. Given this is the cold season for sports books, it is not surprising to let employees go for a few months and then rehire them once football starts.

What triggered all this was a combination of factors, but one thing that cannot go unnoticed was the firing of their main marketing man, Robbie.

According to Stretch, Robbie left and took with him all of Diamond’s customer names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses. In fact, it has been reported that some of the customers have already been called and asked whether they wished to stay on with Diamond Sports or be transferred to Robbie, who at this time, has no office or place to put them into. Many bookmakers are turning him down and will continue to do so because of their loyalty to the owners of Diamond Sports.

In this industry, your reputation and character is all you have. If you lose that, your business will surely tumble and fall. In the case of the two main principals involved with Diamond, both of them are respected and revered by their peers.

Since the downsizing, there has not been one single complaint about a customer being slow paid, or even worse, not paid. This alone should clearly send a signal to gamblers their money is safe with Diamond Sports.

And if that's not a good enough sign, when a corporation downsizes, one of their options is to file for bankruptcy, thereby screwing all of their employees. They then open a new entity shortly thereafter.

Diamond Sports did not do this. What it did was take the high road offering all their clerks and other employees compensation when they were terminated. Costa Rica has very strict laws regarding workmen compensation and what employers must follow when they fire an employee.

Diamond Sports met these legal obligations, or they would not be permitted to do business in Costa Rica. Sure, there will be disgruntled employees who have a right to be upset, but there are other recourses available to them if they are not happy with the manner in which Diamond Sports behaved during the downsizing of its company.

The average sports book clerk makes four-to-five times above the medium salary in Costa Rica. Furthermore, for each year they work, they are compensated one month of additional pay. Lastly, all employees were paid on Monday, according to Stretch.

It is also important to stress that not only have all of Diamond’s customers been paid in a timely manner through this transition, but other elite sports books are more that willing to do transfers with Diamond. This list includes CRIS, Grande, Delmar and Rio.

We have invited Diamond Sports to have a representative answer any additional questions gamblers may have in our posting forum. Diamond has promised me as soon as its move is completed and things aren't as hectic for them during this process, they will be more than happy to accommodate patrons of this site. We expect this to occur within two days.

Any gambler who wishes to access their monies and make withdrawals can do so without delay as well.
 

Smell like "lemon juice and Pledge furniture clean
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So Shrink (or DSI rep) there's no truth in Sting's claims that a player is being slow paid now (if Shrink answers, for what you know)?
 

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They sound 100% to me. Looks like another false alarm triggered by someone.
icon_mad.gif


Thanks for getting the story straight Ken.

-scott
 

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Good news for the players there, thanks Ken for help getting information quickly. Hopefully that is all accurate, when diamond says :

__________________________________________
The average sports book clerk makes four-to-five times above the medium salary in Costa Rica.
______________________________________________
What relevance does this have, even if true, there must be a reason. I would not want to hear nike say that in response to the wages they pay impoverished children in sweat factorys across the world.

Also-

______________________________________
Costa Rica has very strict laws regarding workmen compensation and what employers must follow when they fire an employee.

________________________________________

Does this mean they deny forcing the workers to sign a settlement offer prior to paying them?


Thanks
 

ODU GURU
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go2guy,

NO...not to my knowledge!

And I would bet on it, too...

Lastly, I should add that Diamond Sports is not an advertisor on this site, so there was no conflict of interest when I wrote this...

I found Stretch to be a credible and honest man when he was confronted with some difficult questions by me...

People like to stir up shit and that's too sad...

Ken
 

There's always next year, like in 75, 90-93, 99 &
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Thanks for the update Ken.

This "Robbie" feller deserves a "full metal jacket" style beatdown
icon_mad.gif
 

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Don't know a real lot about DSI,except they have a very good customer base and are run well.Also as I have staed before know a couple of people who play there and have always been paid quickly.
 

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"people like to stir up shit and that's too sad"

So true player. The really sad thing here is that if people (books) don't come in to defend themselves or in this case, people don't get involved enough to get the "real" truth behind such accusations, the book looks bad...

and for what? Not taking the time to post and "defend" themselves.

It's like being guilty until proven innocent.
 

Smell like "lemon juice and Pledge furniture clean
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Thanks Ken for getting the other side of the story!
 

ODU GURU
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dogball:
Good news for the players there, thanks Ken for help getting information quickly. Hopefully that is all accurate, when diamond says :

__________________________________________
The average sports book clerk makes four-to-five times above the medium salary in Costa Rica.
______________________________________________
What relevance does this have, even if true, there must be a reason. I would not want to hear nike say that in response to the wages they pay impoverished children in sweat factorys across the world.

Dogball, it may not seem relevant, but being that some clerks were very vocal about being let go, I guess I felt that despite their hardship, they should be able to buy some more time than we may be aware of since their salaries are much higher than others who get let go elsewhere..


Also-

______________________________________
Costa Rica has very strict laws regarding workmen compensation and what employers must follow when they fire an employee.

________________________________________

Does this mean they deny forcing the workers to sign a settlement offer prior to paying them?

The word "force" bothers me here. No one forced anyone to sign papers. It is my understanding that some clerks chose to do so and got paid, whereas others chose not to and they will pursue other recourses available to them. That's not being "forced" in my opinion since they had a choiceto sign or not to sign...
Thanks<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
 

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i am not going to get into a pissing match about this
but i have bet with robbie a long time and called him when i read this
he says its total bs about him and can be reached at
011-506-835-2825

that all i have to say about it
 
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by lander:
Thanks for the update Ken.

This "Robbie" feller deserves a "full metal jacket" style beatdown
icon_mad.gif
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

So you automatically believe what one person's version was about the story & what someone supposedly did?
 

JD9

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Robbie was no "diamond", and has made himself quite a few enemies by pulling the stunt he did......
 

There's always next year, like in 75, 90-93, 99 &
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"So you automatically believe what one person's version was about the story & what someone supposedly did?"

No, but it wouldn't be the first time something like this happened, would it?
And if push came to shove I'd take Ken's version in a heartbeat over the others.
 

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If CRIS and GRANDE are doing transfers with them, thats good enough for me.

Will sting ever be right about anything?

Christ is this guy not worried someone will come after him one day for posting false garbage?
 

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Very nice post Shrink..Now i know why your worth the $500,000 a year you get here at theRx..
icon_smile.gif
 

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pasha,

not on this forum please!

[This message was edited by THE SHRINK on June 03, 2003 at 02:37 PM.]
 

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> We have invited Diamond Sports to have a representative answer any additional questions gamblers may have in our posting forum. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thank you for the opportunity.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> “In today's competitive market, many sports books are co-mingling their services with other sports books, merging, buying out one another and downsizing to cut costs. In the case of Diamond Sports, it downsized by letting go 50-60 clerks. Given this is the cold season for sports books, it is not surprising to let employees go for a few months and then rehire them once football starts.” <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yet today’s market has seen the following:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Nevada sport books posted a 150 percent increase in win for the Jan. 1-March 31 period, along with an encouraging 16 percent increase in win for the 12 months ended March 31 over the previous 12 months.

Strip sport books’ win increased 287 percent over last year, and 15 percent for the 12 months ended March 31. -Gaming Today current issue.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Can DSI explain why Nevada Bookmakers are experiencing growth over this same time-period, while DSI is NOT?

What are DSI’s numbers in comparison?

What percentage of DSI employees were laid-off?


<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> What triggered all this was a combination of factors, but one thing that cannot go unnoticed was the firing of their main marketing man, Robbie. Robbie left and took with him all of Diamond’s customer names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses. In fact, it has been reported that some of the customers have already been called and asked whether they wished to stay on with Diamond Sports or be transferred to Robbie, who at this time, has no office or place to put them into. Many bookmakers are turning him down and will continue to do so because of their loyalty to the owners of Diamond Sports. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Why did Robbie specifically leave, obviously in a bitter manner, and why is he compelled to take the actions currently being cited?

How CAN Robbie’s leaving be beneficial, when allegations indicate that they are detrimental?

How does DSI plan to prevent Robbie from performing detrimental acts in the future?

Was Robbie the ONLY “manager/executive” type to leave DSI?

If there were others, who were they and what positions did they hold with DSI?


<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> And if that's not a good enough sign, when a corporation downsizes, one of their options is to file for bankruptcy, thereby screwing all of their employees. They then open a new entity shortly thereafter.

Diamond Sports did not do this. What it did was take the high road offering all their clerks and other employees compensation when they were terminated. Costa Rica has very strict laws regarding workmen compensation and what employers must follow when they fire an employee.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Agree that “corporate downsizing is NOT a good sign. Downsizing is a DRASTIC measure for ANY business to undertake…one, which is normally FORCED upon a business due to internal concerns and issues centered around some type of FINANCIAL weakening. Care to disclose current as well as historical relative financial numbers?

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> “All employees were paid on Monday, according to Stretch.” <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yet, there seems to be a dispute initiated by a former employee indicating that payment was NOT received in FULL?

Have ALL laid-off employees been FULLY compensated as implied by Stretch?



Looking forward to the DSI rep's reply.
 

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