Klaben
stranger
Reged: 04/26/07
Posts: 4
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Nat,
As you're making your decision on if you are still going keep in mind those contacts you have on the inside. AP management will be looking for any read on who you've been talking to. If I was playing whistleblower from Costa Rica I would not be looking forward to your trip.
Other than that word of warning...great job, keep up the good work.
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h11
member
Reged: 11/27/04
Posts: 119
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Quote:
Quote:
Gilda Patricia Cortes Chinchilla = Scott Tom's wife
Laura Chinchilla = Vice Presidente of Costa Rica
Hmmmm.
Although I'm sure that Chinchilla is a pretty common name in South America.
Interesting....
Costa Rica seems about as crooked as those Mohawks running the KGC.
Quote:
Costa Rica has no law that regulates the sports betting industry, Mrs. Chinchilla said, therefore the government doesn't have legal means to intervene and assist the DoJ. Sports betting is not illegal in Costa Rica. The Tico government imposes an annual tax on the over 750 sports books located in the country, a number of which operat without paying the tax.
The Costa Rican OIJ (Organization of Judicial Investigation) Director Mr. Jorge Rojas said that his department ran several investigations for money laundering allegations related to the sports betting industry in the past years. “Our investigations never found evidence of these alleged crimes”, he said.
HERE
I had heard that Costa Rica is well-respected, often arbitrating disputes of other nations in the region because of their reputation for integrity. Their President Arias received the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end civil wars among central american nations, whereas the President of my country, the USA, would get the Nobel Prize for War were one awarded. A very large number of Americans have retired there, and I have never heard any complaints. Since 1981, when I learned about Costa Rica because I worked near their consolute in Los Angeles, I have thought about eventually retiring in Costa Rica myself, so I think I would have remembered any such problems reported in the press. And as to the gaming commission, I have not seen in these threads any posts regarding misbehavior by them. Have you? I read about some sort of shoot out over a dispute concerning high stakes bingo I think on the reservation there in 1990, or on some nearby reservation, in which 2 ar 3 people were shot dead, I think related to the Indians claiming a right to have gambling if they wanted while the Canadian authorities disagreed with that, but personally I think the Indians are in the right in their claims. The French DID sign an agreement conceding that this place was a sovereign nation 300 years ago. So why CANT they have gambling if they want? So if the Canadians come in to stop them, and they defend their rights - is that unethical?
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dave88
member
Reged: 09/15/05
Posts: 170
Loc: Lucky Donkey
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Ask how AJ uses these mushrooms he has an affinity for, you know "not the kind you eat" lol, also was he under the influence of said mushrooms (tripping out) when he won the tournament?
seriously though, thanks for going down there, I look forward to your findings.
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gimmemore9
stranger
Reged: 10/20/07
Posts: 5
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OP (Nat) is not going to find anything. They won't release names, IP addresses, usernames or what actually happened so you'd be naive to believe that this visit to AP is anything more than a way to convince all of the 2+2 players that AP is now legitimate. By Nat taking money, he is almost now involved in it too which is very bad. Nat, you are going to visit criminals. I hope you know that. Why on earth would you want to do that?
Edited by gimmemore9 (10/23/07 11:32 PM)
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celiboy
veteran
Reged: 12/28/04
Posts: 1262
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Gilda Patricia Cortes Chinchilla = Scott Tom's wife
Laura Chinchilla = Vice Presidente of Costa Rica
Hmmmm.
Although I'm sure that Chinchilla is a pretty common name in South America.
Interesting....
Costa Rica seems about as crooked as those Mohawks running the KGC.
Quote:
Costa Rica has no law that regulates the sports betting industry, Mrs. Chinchilla said, therefore the government doesn't have legal means to intervene and assist the DoJ. Sports betting is not illegal in Costa Rica. The Tico government imposes an annual tax on the over 750 sports books located in the country, a number of which operat without paying the tax.
The Costa Rican OIJ (Organization of Judicial Investigation) Director Mr. Jorge Rojas said that his department ran several investigations for money laundering allegations related to the sports betting industry in the past years. “Our investigations never found evidence of these alleged crimes”, he said.
HERE
I had heard that Costa Rica is well-respected, often arbitrating disputes of other nations in the region because of their reputation for integrity. Their President Arias received the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end civil wars among central american nations, whereas the President of my country, the USA, would get the Nobel Prize for War were one awarded. A very large number of Americans have retired there, and I have never heard any complaints. Since 1981, when I learned about Costa Rica because I worked near their consolute in Los Angeles, I have thought about eventually retiring in Costa Rica myself, so I think I would have remembered any such problems reported in the press. And as to the gaming commission, I have not seen in these threads any posts regarding misbehavior by them. Have you? I read about some sort of shoot out over a dispute concerning high stakes bingo I think on the reservation there in 1990, or on some nearby reservation, in which 2 ar 3 people were shot dead, I think related to the Indians claiming a right to have gambling if they wanted while the Canadian authorities disagreed with that, but personally I think the Indians are in the right in their claims. The French DID sign an agreement conceding that this place was a sovereign nation 300 years ago. So why CANT they have gambling if they want? So if the Canadians come in to stop them, and they defend their rights - is that unethical?
The dispute you mention was the Oka Crisis back in the 90's. Basically it was a 3 or 4 month dispute between the Mohawks and the gov't whereby the Mohawks were claiming total independance from Canada. A few people died during the standoff. The Mohawks then started licensing gaming in the late 90's...the Canadian gov't does not really endorse this, but they probably turn a blind eye to it to avoid any future problems with the natives.
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TonyRoflmao
journeyman
Reged: 06/16/07
Posts: 67
Loc: yaleyo
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Quote:
Gilda Patricia Cortes Chinchilla = Scott Tom's wife
Laura Chinchilla = Vice Presidente of Costa Rica
Hmmmm.
Although I'm sure that Chinchilla is a pretty common name in South America.
VP Laura Chinchilla only has one male child (NSFW if you scroll too far down):
http://www.nacion.com/teleguia/2006/marzo/26/topo.html
Finding non-immediate family connections could prove difficult.
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N 82 50 24
MTT Data Collector
Reged: 03/05/05
Posts: 4196
Loc: thepokerdb
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FWIW, I am not going anymore on AP's dime. I made the decision on a few levels.
a) People who know me would know that I would not be compromised. Other people wouldn't. Most people don't know me. Therefore, most people wouldn't believe my report. Since I'm not doing this for the money, I don't really care if I skip going. Someone else from 2p2 (Mason, please...) can take the position with AP and do as they see fit.
b) I don't want to deal with the legality issues of possibly being considered a paid consultant.
I am considering another method of going and still asking questions. I may or may not take advantage of this other opportunity depending on some details that are yet to be worked out such as what I would be responsible for doing, what the terms are w/r/t publishing the report, etc. I plan on discussing details tomorrow if it comes though.
Sorry, but if a report is going to have questionable integrity in the eyes of many (even if those who know me would trust me), it just isn't worth it. I'd be doing this so people would think there's an independent person down there and too many people believe that money compromises. I can say until I'm blue in the face that it doesn't compromise me, but a lot of people don't believe that.
Thank you to AP for the offer and opportunity. I welcome the invitation of Adanthar or another 2p2er down to CR on AP's behalf and I'll support his trip.
-Nat
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yellowsub
2006 EPT Grand Final Winner
Reged: 05/15/06
Posts: 1639
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have fun mooing around CR, take some good pics, & look forward to trip report
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StoneColdTex
stranger
Reged: 02/03/06
Posts: 8
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Quote:
Quote:
, I am mainly going as a representative for 2p2,
HI N 82 50 24:
I'm sorry but you do not represent Two Plus Two. That authorization can only from me.
Best wishes,
Mason
Then he represents the "POSTERS" on the 2P2 forums.
Which probably carries more credibility since the "official" representatives of P2P haven't done anything at all to speak of.
Nice of you to pop in by the way.
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mother_brain
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 03/16/05
Posts: 1716
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Its really upsetting that with so many of the previous threads staying relatively close to the point this one has been so cluttered with nonsense.
I believe Diablo's assessment of the trip is probably the most educated and currect one. The point people are missing is that Nat's trip report is probably going to report exactly that. He will say that the guys were nice and blah blah blah. He might get a few questions answered and provide some interesting nuggets.
HOWEVER!
there is no reason that his final paragraph wont read:
"I was shown a well funded company that is conducting some sort of audit. They have shut down some of the cheating accounts that they've mentioned and returned X amount of dollars to the players. However, I was shown no new conclusive evidence that your view of APs security should change from what it was before this trip. We are all aware of the actions they've taken and press releases they've sent out. We are also aware of what likely has been going on for a much longer time and there are probably other things that we will never be aware of. That being said the decision of whether to play there or else where has been and always will be your decision."
I'm certain that nearly every person in this thread feels they would be able to go down there and stay level headed and objective about their trip report. Yet, Nat and Anathar whom have proven 100% of the time through all of this that they are extremely capable and intelligent will suddenly turn into bumbling morons the second they step off the plane.
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