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.
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.
