Blogs by Danny B Part 22

Blogs by Danny B

Part 22

The HBO Interview aired late August 1997 or early September, I don't remember the exact date but I will tell you it was a great segment! My friends & family were calling me left and right, they could not believe it was me they were seeing as I did not tell many about the interview...

 We were all excited and now it was time to make some cash and recoup the money we invested in advertising.. The news paper adds hit days before the segment but the phones were not ringing and tension started building in the office. In the first month alone we spent 30k out of our 50k budget and not a penny came back to us, it was very depressing.. I told one of the partners not to invest too much too fast but Kyle thought he was a marketing expert and did not listen which quickly lead to me giving him a beat-down in the office..

 By late September we all decided we should take it on the chin and turn our Handicapping business into a bookmaking venture with Keith who recently opened up a Sports Book based in Aruba.. I had worked with Keith before and I new he was capable of doing well as he was a big part of ESB's early success.. We made the transition and right away the phones were ringing via direct mailers and adds in the USA Today and Pro Football Weekly. In the 90's you could advertise Offshore Betting and no one cared, as long as the check was good they would run the adds. Today that would never happen as the laws changed a few years later..

 We advertised that the Casino was in Aruba but the only thing that was in Aruba was a contact at Western Union who would pull the deals for us and funnel the money back to Keith in Kutztown, Pa were we moved our office, right by the college! We were kicking ass but word spread fast and before we knew it we were getting heat from Dennis who hated the fact his former workers were now his competition! Within a few weeks we got severed with a law suit from Dennis stating we signed a no compete with him and that we used his data base to steal clients from ESB, this was somewhat true but I never took shit from him, Keith did and so did a few others that worked for him.. Everyone felt they were mistreated and taking some names was justifiable.. Shit was ready to hit the fan...

Danny B