Online Gambling in Florida Florida Gambling Laws & Sites

Note: I was technically supposed to post this earlier this week, but noticed that no one was signed up for today (plus I was super busy earlier), so I'm posting a bit late, under a throwaway account! Fair warning: I'm VERY verbose, so this will be long!
Section One: Assets and Debt
As I mentioned above, I make $56k per year as an administrator in higher education. My husband (K) just got a raise to making $155k per year. He works as a lawyer, has been in the workforce for about 12 years. I won't get into too many details but he works for a small boutique firm, not Biglaw. He also sometimes gets a yearly bonus of around $10k-20k but it's not guaranteed or anything like that. K and I have totally combined finances, so the below numbers are for both of us. I have a humanities PhD but I decided to leave academia and find an alt-ac job. My current position has good work-life balance (I never work past 5 pm), but pays terribly and my university is very badly run. I'm hoping to leave higher education all together in the future and am currently enrolled in a certificate program to try to make a career transition to instructional design.
The big elephant in the room is that my husband, K, makes a lot more money than me. When we first met, he was paying off massive amounts of student loans and making much less, and I was debt free with a lot of savings, so we both spent about the same amount. Now he makes 3x what I make and we are both debt-free, so the difference is much more noticeable. We do argue about money sometimes (more in the past), but the reality is that I have a humanities PhD and will likely never out earn him, and he knew that when I married him, lol. Because of all the labor I do around the house and in our lives to support him as he works a much more intense job, I was very clear that I believed we should split our finances equally as soon as we got married. We don't have separate accounts and we generally check in with one another whenever we are planning to spend more than $100. This system works for us for now.
I also want to address the question about parental or family support. Although I technically paid all of my own bills since I got my Bachelor's degree, my parents supported me a lot by paying for my flights home to visit at Christmas or in the summer as Xmas presents/birthday presents. My parents also paid for my undergraduate degree (and K's parents paid for his undergraduate degree as well). They also gave us about $15k to pay for our wedding.
Finally, my parents recently gave me $20k as an "early inheritance." They told me they plan to do this every year (depending on the stock market). We put this money into a brokerage. I don't consider my parents rich, as they both worked hourly jobs in health care my entire life (as a nurse and respiratory therapist - both with only associate's degrees). We never owned a new car, when we went on vacation we stayed in hostels , and shopped almost exclusively at Goodwill. But they scrimped and saved and now they have over $1 million in a retirement account. So I want to acknowledge my financial privilege in that I came from this kind of background. K's parents are similar.
Retirement Balance: $186k (combination of 401k, 403b, 457, 2 Roth IRAs, and taxable brokerage account).
Equity: None, we rent.
Savings account balance: Approximately $45k.
Checking account balance: Right now, around 8k.
Credit card debt: Right now, around $3k. But we pay it off each month with our checking account balance.
Student loan debt: $0. We finally paid off my husband’s law school loans (around $130k), last year. I didn’t have any student loans from undergrad (parents paid) and my MA & PhD were fully funded.
Section Two: Income
Income Progression: I’ve been working in my current field for 3 years. I started off making about $53k and got tiny 2% “merit increases” twice. Then in July my payroll title was changed, which triggered a required raise of about $2k. (I am dramatically underpaid).
Before my current position, I was in academia. I worked as a visiting assistant professor for one year at my alma mater (made $50k for 9 months of work) and before that I was a graduate student for 7 years. I was paid $18k-21k in stipends each year and my tuition & benefits were covered. Luckily, I lived in a very low cost of living area and this was enough for me to live on without going into debt. I got my PhD in 2017. Before I was a graduate student, I taught English in Japan for three years and made around $36k per year. In high school and college, I had random jobs that provided grocery/spending money, but I was lucky enough to have parents that paid my tuition and my rent in college.
I’m currently trying to make a career change (as you will see in my diary) and enrolled in a certificate program which runs from Autumn 2020 to Spring 2021 in order to help with that.
Main Job Monthly Take Home: $7,634. This probably seems low relative to our joint income, but we max out our 401k (K) and 403b (me). I work for the state government, which means I’m also eligible for something called a Deferred Compensation Plan (457b). This is basically the same as a 401k but you can withdraw contributions and gains from the account at any age without penalty (of course, you still have to pay taxes). I also max this out, and the limit is the same as a 401k/403b - $19.5k. Also this number is before K’s raise is accounted for. It won’t increase until his end of February paycheck.
Other deductions - I have health insurance taken out (about $80 a month for me, K’s firm covers his premiums) and taxes. WA has no state taxes, so it’s only federal taxes. I used to have to pay $50 / month for a bus pass (K's was free), but I don’t pay any longer because I’m working from home during COVID.
Final note - the sum I mentioned in the headline includes a variable bonus my husband gets. My base pay is $56k and his is $155k (as of February 1). This year he also got a bonus of $20k, which is set up a bit strangely. About $4k of this was structured as a 3% matching contribution to his 401k and the rest was taxable income. In small law firms, it’s unusual to get any 401k match so this was nice.
Side Gig Monthly Take Home: None.
Any Other Monthly Income Here: We get some interest from our savings account… like $25 a month.
Section Three: Expenses
Rent: Rent comes to approximately $2,050 total for a one-bedroom apartment. Rent itself is $1886, then we have pet rent ($25 per month), bicycle parking ($15 a month) and water / sewage / gas, which is usually $120-150 (variable cost).
Renters insurance: $157.76, paid annually. $13 a month.
Retirement contribution: In addition to the 401k, 403b, and 457, which all come out before taxes, we max out our Roth IRAs. That means $500 each per month per person (for a yearly total of $6k each). As I noted up top, we match out our 401k and 403b (19,500 each) and our 457. My employee also offers a 7.5% match. K's employee offers a 3% match but it is included in his yearly bonus so it's not guaranteed (confusing).
Savings contribution: We put $500 per month into our emergency fund. We also put about $860 a month into our “sinking fund,” which covers large and small annual or sporadic purchases such as vacations, gifts, Amazon Prime renewal, car insurance and renters insurance, etc.
Investment contribution: $875 per month into a taxable brokerage at Vanguard.
In total, we save about 47% of our gross income. We can do this because we keep our housing cost low relative to our high income, we don’t have any debt remaining, we don’t have any kids or parents who need financial support, and we’re very privileged in a lot of ways. We are hoping to FIRE within 10 years.
Debt payments: None.
Donations: We budget $100 per month for donations, which includes one-time donations as well as some reoccurring donations. My husband does pro bono work as well. I would like to increase this by quite a bit, but I still have a hard time budgeting for donations because I spent 7 years living on approximately $20k a year. To go from that to making more than 10x that amount within 3-4 years is obviously something that I am very privileged for, but it is still hard for me emotionally to comprehend at times.
Electric: ~$50-100 (billed every other month)
Wifi/Cable/Landline: An extortionate $87.12 for slow internet that only works for Zoom calls about half the time. Do I really live in one of the tech cities of the future?
Cellphone: $170 (This includes both service and paying off two new iPhones. We could have paid them off up front, but it was actually cheaper by like $50 to go on a payment plan.)
Subscriptions: BritBox ($7.70), Spotify ($16.50), HBOMax ($16.50), We Hate Movies Patreon (my favorite podcast - $8.81). My parents pay for Netflix and my sister pays for Hulu, and we all share.
Gym membership: None. K and I both run and do yoga with YouTube videos. Before the pandemic, we went to yoga classes pretty frequently in person. I’d like to do some online synchronous yoga classes but find it hard to make time.
Pet expenses: Varies, but I budget $50 per month and also include an emergency fund for my cat’s vet bills in our sinking fund. She’s 11 years old and probably asthmatic, so I know her vet bills are going to increase over time.
Car payment / insurance: We own our car outright. Insurance billed yearly is $2,097, about $174 per month.
Regular therapy: $0
Paid hobbies: Nothing regular, sporadic language classes and art supplies.
Other expenses: Right now I’m doing a certificate to hopefully help with a career change. The total cost for tuition is about $5k and we already saved it up (included in our 'sinking fund') basically through spending less during the pandemic. I’ve paid two quarters so far, and the last quarter (due in March) will be a bit more - about $2.3k.
__________
Day 1
Morning: I wake up at 5:30 am. Ever since the pandemic, my sleep schedule has been shot. At first, I was so happy not to have to leave the house at 7:15 for my 45 minute bus commute and I slept in a lot. But the stress (and maybe getting old?) has made me an early riser, no matter how much I try to sleep in. I do value my early mornings with just me, my cat, and my coffee, though.
I start work at 8 am and begin by triaging my emails. I have a bunch of deadlines this week, so it’s busier than usual. My job tends to be very seasonal, and sometimes I have a ton of work and sometimes I have none and can work on other longer-term projects. I have a piece of toast for breakfast and place a Whole Foods delivery order for the following day at 10:30 am. We made a meal plan and put everything in the cart the day before ($117.36, including tip).
Afternoon: I have my lunch break from noon to 1 pm. It doesn’t really matter when I take my lunch break, since I’m salaried, but the others in my office are hourly so in the before times we used to always close our office during the same time. I have a piece of leftover delivery pizza and some spinach risotto that I made a few days earlier. I also have half a brownie – the last one from a batch I made a few days ago (K gets the other half). He also has leftovers for lunch.
I should say at this point that both K and I are lucky enough to have been working almost entirely from home since early March. An area near Seattle was one of the first places to get hit by COVID-19, and my state and both of our employers have been taking it very seriously ever since. Working from home hasn’t always been easy since we live in a 600-square foot apartment. Also, there is a three-story townhouse being built directly next door to us and I can hear the pounding in my dreams at this point.
Around 2 pm, I go for a 2-mile run. I feel like some money diarists tend to toss off things like “oh, I went for an easy 7 mile run,” at the drop of a hat, so I want to be clear – running for 2 miles isn’t easy for me; it’s exhausting, annoying, sweaty, and generally gross. Also I am very slow. But it has kept me sane during quarantine.
Meanwhile, my husband goes to our local pet store to get an enzymatic cleaner (our cat peed in one of our suitcases… I think it’s probably a lost cause, but it was basically brand new, so worth a try) and special weight-loss cat food. Our cat is an 11-year-old rescue from the Humane Society and she is a chonky girl. We had to sign a waiver when we adopted her, saying that we understood that she was very overweight, lol. Our vet recommended a special diet food, rather than just restricting her intake as we have been doing, so we will give it a try ($78). My husband also stops buy our local wine store and picks up two bottles. We’ve been doing a dry January, so this will be our first drink for a while ($27.53).
I have a phone interview scheduled for 4 pm – just a preliminary interview with an internal recruiter. It’s the first ‘corporate’ job interview I’ve ever had, since I’ve been in academia my entire life. I’m trying to make a pivot into instructional design / training and development. I’m just excited to get an interview. It seems to go pretty well, but who knows. They tell me they will probably get back to me by the end of this week.
Evening: My husband whips up a random meal of fridge remnants – pesto pasta with sausage and a fridge salad with feta and bell peppers. It’s pretty tasty with a little Sauvignon Blanc. During dinner, we play a card game we call gin rummy, although it bears no resemblance to the actual game. After dinner, I make a chocolate cake with orange buttercream frosting and we watch Cobra Kai.
Daily total: $222.89
Day 2
Morning: Up early again, a piece of toast for breakfast (very exciting). We’re out of eggs until our Whole Foods order arrives. I’m working on creating some tedious but necessary spreadsheets this morning.
Noon: Our Whole Foods order arrives around noon. Excitement! They’ve given us a half-rotten bag of romaine lettuce and substituted pecans for hazelnuts. I should probably just double mask and go to Trader Joe’s myself (our regular spot, only a 5-minute walk from my apartment). I’m just getting anxious about these new variants.
I have leftover meatloaf and spinach risotto again for lunch. Lots of meetings and more organizing spreadsheets in the afternoon. Around 3 pm, I go for my daily ritual - a 20-minute walk around my neighborhood. It’s still raining slightly but I need to get out. Halfway through the walk, I get an email from my apartment manager telling me the apartment will no longer accept debit card payments, direct deposit, or credit card payments for paying rent. In other words, only checks or money orders (?!). Ugh. Our lease is up in 4 months and we will not be renewing our lease. Our last apartment manager was a gambling addict who may have been stealing people’s identities, but by God, he kept things working. Ever since they fired him, this place has been going downhill.
Evening: I check my bank statements to update my budget spreadsheet and realize that I have been billed the wrong amount of rent. They actually charged me less than they should have. I don’t trust my apartment manager not to start charging me a late fee or something for this, so I call them up. They are baffled by how to fix this, which you would think would be the one thing you would want to get right, if you’re renting out apartments.
K cooks dinner – steak with a Roquefort sauce and glazed brussels sprouts. It’s from a French cookbook we recently bought and it is delicious. I work on classwork for my certificate program while he cooks. After dinner, I do the dishes and buy the 13th season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I watch the first episode – lots of shocking twists and turns! I’m planning to watch the rest of the episodes together with my younger sister, M ($22.01).
Daily total: $22.01
Day 3
Morning: K has an 8 am dentist appointment, so he takes off early. He already paid for the work last month, so there’s no charge. I have a piece of toast for breakfast and get to work checking my emails. It’s 8:20 am and the construction crew building a townhouse next door is blasting mariachi music. I’m glad someone is having fun. At least the sun is coming out.
Someone at work has made a critical error, but it wasn’t me, thank God. I was the one who found out about it, but it’s still going to cause a big old headache for me. I’m ready to be done with this job. K and I go for a run so that I can exhaust myself enough to no longer be furious about said careless error.
Noon: I have leftover spinach risotto and meatloaf again – exciting. I’m busy at work but frankly, not a lot going on other than that. Still no word about fixing my rent payments. I’m not really willing to pursue this any further at this point.
Evening: I start making chili (Turkey Chili from the NY Times) and cornbread (from my new cookbook, Jubilee). K is doing some work on our investments when he announces that, somehow, a transfer was scheduled from our checking account to our savings account of $55k (?!) We obviously don’t have $55k in our checking account, so we start frantically trying to figure out what’s going on. Numerous phone calls later, we still don’t know if that was a hack, if my husband somehow mistakenly scheduled the transfer himself, or if the bank messed it up. Either way, it doesn’t seem like any harm was done since the bank with our checking account just declined the transaction. But it seems really strange and worrisome. We get to work changing the passwords on all of our accounts, just in case it was some kind of hack.
After dinner (and chocolate cake), I have a Zoom happy hour with a local friend. We occasionally see each other outside but it’s nice to have a longer chat from the comfort of our living rooms. We both love murder mysteries, so we signed up for a service where a company sends us letters with clues and we try to solve the mystery together. It’s a fun way to stay connected and look forward to something during the pandemic. The service costs about $15 per month, but I paid for it in lump sum for 3 months, so it’s not included in my budget above. I drink some wine and we vent about work (we work at the same place) before getting started on the puzzle.
Daily total: $0
Day 4
Morning: I sleep in a bit, which is nice. Get up around 7 am. My parents are both getting their 2nd vaccine today – they’re both in their 70s and I am so relieved. I send my mom a “congratulations on being vaccinated!” text and we chat for a bit. I have leftover cornbread with honey and butter for breakfast – soooo good.
Work is not particularly exciting today, but someone sends me a last-minute request for something that does not need to be so urgent. I feel annoyed. Still no word from the interviewers on Monday, and I’m beginning to suspect I wasn’t selected to move forward. Too bad. K pays for a Wordpress website for the year (it’s a work-related website, but sadly his work doesn’t reimburse him). It costs $92.48.
Noon: The mariachi music is particularly loud today. I stand out on my balcony in the sun for a while and watch the workers. It’s been interesting seeing a house go up next door in real time, especially since I’m at home all the time. The workers are balancing on the top of the third story wall without, as far as I can see, anything like a safety line. It seems unsafe, but I presume they know what they’re doing.
We booked a cabin for the upcoming weekend in the Hood Canal region of Washington to do some hiking and birdwatching. I want to be as safe as possible and not go to any grocery stores or risk spreading COVID in any way while I’m there, so I place another grocery order with Whole Foods just for some special treats for the weekend. The cabin has a small kitchen and a grill, so we’re planning to make a fancy steak salad on Saturday. I order chips and hummus, some fancy cheese and meats, Tate’s cookies (I’ve heard a lot of good things about these), a baguette, and the ingredients for the steak salad. I also order a few staples I forgot in our last order, like sweet potatoes, more coffee, and half and half. It comes to $87.41, including tip, but that does include like $30 worth of steak. For some reason, I can’t order a small amount of steak online, so I’m planning to freeze half of it for later. (I include this purchase in our vacation fund budget, rather than under our regular grocery budget).
Around 2 pm, K makes a quick trip to our local wine store to buy an Oregon pinot noir and some port to enjoy at the cabin ($59.45). This store has an outdoor walk-up counter where you can tell the owner what you’re looking for, and he brings you some options (the store is way too small to allow customers to enter during Covid). It’s fun to chat with another human being, even briefly.
Evening: After work, we spend a little time rebalancing our investing and retirement accounts. We decide to put more money into bonds and a little bit into REIT’s as a hedge against a potential crash or recession in the future. Then I start making dinner – Broken Eggs (Huevas Rotas) from the NY Times cooking site. You basically cook the potatoes in a skillet in water, spices, and olive oil, and then sauté them to crisp them up once the water evaporates. Then you add onion, lots of garlic, and finally some eggs. It is delicious. I eat it with leftover cornbread while watching RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 with my sister – we watch the first two episodes. It’s full of twists and turns. A note about this – we have an elaborate procedure for watching shows together developed during quarantine whereby we start the show at the same with an earbud in one ear, while FaceTiming. I also have chocolate cake, of course.
Later, I get an email that I’ve signed up for HBO on Amazon Prime. I definitely have not. I text my mom, who shares my account, and she tells me she signed up by mistake. I cancel right away and luckily they won’t charge us for it.
Meanwhile, K is doing an online Japanese language class over Zoom. He’s been interested in learning ever since we went to Japan last January. I lived in Japan for 3 years so I was able to take us around to a lot of more obscure places and he really enjoyed the trip – it was a blast.
K starts a YouTube yoga class (from Do Yoga With Me – my favorite channel) and I join him for part of it before bed around 10 pm.
Daily total: $239.34
Day 5
Morning: I get up around 7 am and we go for a run first thing. I prefer running early in the morning because there are fewer people to avoid during COVID. We do a different route today – it’s longer (3 miles) but has fewer hills. It’s a slog, as always, but I feel good when I get back right around 8 am. I jump straight onto my computer to start checking work emails and my husband makes us avocado and egg toast for breakfast - it is absolutely delicious.
We talk about how our bathroom smells distinctly mildewy (yay for being a grown-up because I guess this is what we talk about now) and we buy two big buckets of DampRid on Amazon ($26.60). I’ve found this to be a necessity in Seattle. Mid-morning, I take a break from work and start packing for our trip to the cabin.
Noon: I have leftover potatoes and cornbread for lunch, and my husband has the leftover chili. We finish getting ready to leave and head out right after lunch, taking a half day. The only problem is that I have attend a meeting at 3:30 pm, so we head out hoping to get there in time. Our cabin is near Quilcene in the Hood Canal region of Washington, about a 2 hour drive or a 2 hour ferry ride + drive. We are initially planning to take the ferry both ways, but realize that we mistimed the ferry departure, so we drive the whole way instead. Luckily, there’s little traffic mid-day, and we arrive at our Airbnb around 3:00 pm.
The Airbnb is beautiful! It’s a small cabin handmade by the owner, whose house is next door. It’s very rural, with a beautiful view. It’s tiny, but has a little kitchen and a waterfall-style shower with river rocks on the floor. It’s a great place to get away for a short time. Luckily, it also has good reception and I’m able to sit in on my meeting with no problems. My husband also does a little work, and then at 5 pm we’re free!
In our planning, we decided to get takeout on Friday night, since the little kitchen isn’t designed for any serious cooking. We call ahead to a local restaurant to order burgers (one of only 2 restaurants in the whole town). It’s around 5:30 pm and the place is deserted. It’s a microbrewery, but they tell us they haven’t been making beer since COVID-19 hit. None of the workers are wearing masks when I walk in, but they put them on when they see I’m wearing one. I pick up our order - a few bottled beers and burgers and fries ($49.52 including tip).
Back at our Airbnb, we watch Big Trouble in Little China and enjoy our very messy, but delicious, burgers (it costs $4.39 to rent). The movie is very campy but fun. I love silly action movies, as you will see with my other viewing choices. We wrap up the night in a very exciting fashion, eating chocolate cake and watching old episodes of the original Star Trek.
Daily total: $80.51
Day 6
Morning & noon: When we wake up around 8 am, the weather is looking thankfully clear and even sunny! We were expecting rain, so we’re really glad. We decide to go hiking today, and we head out before even having breakfast, with snacks and lunches packed. Our first destination is a hike called Mt. Zion, but unfortunately, we run into enough snow 2 miles before the trailhead that we decide to turn back. We don’t have any traction for our Subaru and don’t want to risk getting stuck on a very narrow mountain road. Instead, we drive another hour or so to the Lena Lake trailhead, a very popular and less strenuous trail. It’s about 7.5 miles roundtrip with 1200 feet of elevation gain.
By this time, it’s around 11:30, but luckily there is still parking. It’s a great hike up, and we run into relatively few people. We always mask up whenever we pass anyone, as does about 50% of the people we meet. The others… not so much. Around a mile from the lake, we start to run into snow. It’s turned into a beautiful sunny day, and I’m loving seeing all this snow! It’s a bit slippery, but not too bad. We make it to the lake mid-day, and it’s super jammed – there’s only a small viewpoint accessible, so everyone is crowded in there. I feel a bit uneasy with all the unmasked people, but we manage to find a spot away from the crowd and sit down to eat our lunch of apples, chips, and energy bars. There are a ton of robber jays there (Canada Jays) which try to eat our chips. It is fun watching them, but I’m annoyed to see some kids feeding them – it’ll just make them that much more aggressive. Bad trail manners.
On our way back down, we get stuck behind a group of 5 unmasked adults, who refuse to cede the narrow trail to faster hikers. I’m a slow hiker myself, so, to be clear, I’m not angry at slower walkers being on the trail but have some self-awareness and let people pass! especially if you’re going to go hiking in a big group during a pandemic! We finally get back down and head back to our Airbnb.
Evening: Back home, we explore some of the trails our Airbnb host has set up around his extensive property, and then relax on the deck. The sun is breaking through the clouds and it feels wonderful to sit out in nature and feel the sun on my back. We open up a bottle of wine and have a few pre-dinner snacks (more chips and hummus). For this night, we brought ingredients to make a steak salad. Our Airbnb host has kindly set up a charcoal grill for us, so we grilled the steak and toast some bread on the side.
We eat dinner while watching the truly terrible Jean Claude Van Damme movie Bloodsport and finish up the very last of my chocolate cake. It’s amazing that anyone ever let Van Damme act… or should I say ‘act.’ I also have a Tate’s chocolate chip cookie or two, accompanied by a little port. My husband and I are truly very old people at heart, so we finish up the night watching a few episodes of Columbo.
Daily total: $0
Day 7
Morning: Unfortunately, K had insomnia last night, so he sleeps in pretty late. I drink coffee in bed and enjoy looking at the view out our big windows. Once he’s up, we get packed up and write a thank you note for our host. It was a great stay.
One of my big hobbies is birding and K enjoys wildlife photography, so we go out to look for some lifers! (The first time you see a new species of bird). Did I mention we are very old people in (relatively) young bodies? We first go to Dosewallips State Park and see some bald eagles, great blue herons, lots of various ducks, and a flock of Canada Geese, which, strangely, includes a domesticated gray goose. He’s much larger than the Canada Geese and seems to be watching over them. It’s kind of cute. Unfortunately, a lot of the birds are too far from shore to be seen clearly.
Our next stop is Point No Point (I love all the sad & disappointed names that early Westerner explorers gave places in the Washington/Oregon coast), a popular birding spot. We see a ton of birds here, and I can understand why it’s so well-known - Red-Breasted Mergansers, Western Grebes, Common Goldeneyes, Pacific Loons, and a few others I can’t identify yet. Most excitingly though, we see a whole pile of otters! They’re lounging around together on a rock just offshore and a ton of people are watching. We watch as they all slip off the rock and go hunting in the shore. It’s my first otter sighting in the wild, and it’s so cool! We also see some seals and possibly a sea lion. It’s a great spot for wildlife. We eat some snacks (hummus, chips, some sliced meat & cheese) before we head out.
I really want to come back to this area another time and explore further, but K has decided that we need to get back home in time for the Big Game. We take the 3:00 pm ferry back to Seattle ($16.40) and get home around 3:45 pm. I veg out at home while my husband watches football. He’s a Patriots fan but he still loves Tom Brady (??) so he’s happy to see Florida win. I don’t understand sports team loyalties at all, but whatever, I’m glad he’s happy. We order from a new Indian place called Spice Box and get vindaloo, roganjosh, and vegetables pakora – so tasty ($53.96). Happily, there’s enough left over for lunch the next day, since I have no plans for what we will eat yet!
I’m really dreading work the next day, as I know that it will be obnoxious. I want to get out of my job so badly, but it doesn’t look like I’m going on to the next interview stage for the job I interviewed no back on Monday. I’m feeling kind of down about it. I try to stay positive and promise that I’ll apply for at least 2-3 new jobs next week. I bake up some frozen cookie dough I had in the freezer and feel sorry for myself. We end the night by watching another episode of Columbo.
Daily total: 70.36
Food + Drink: $395.23
Fun / Entertainment: $26.40
Home + Health: $26.60
Clothes + Beauty: $0
Transport: $16.40
Other: $170.48
Grand Total: $635.11
I think this week was pretty normal for us. Obviously we spent a bit more than usual due to the weekend cabin trip, but nothing outrageous. Our largest consumer spending category is definitely food and drink – we live in a very busy area of Seattle with tons of restaurants and bars so believe it or not, we actually used to spend even more on eating out. We still try to support our local places by getting takeout or delivery during the pandemic and even occasionally getting a few drinks outside. I spent more than usual on groceries due to stocking up for the weekend away.

NEW INFO 5 Results from share redemption are posted. Less than .2% redeemed. Very bullish as investors are showing extreme confidence in the future of PLBY.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/playboy-mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-120000721.html
NEW INFO 4 Definitive Agreement to purchase 100% of Lovers brand stores announced 2/1.
https://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Playboy+%28MCAC%29+Confirms+Deal+to+Acquire+Lovers/17892359.html
NEW INFO 3 I bought more on the dip today. 5081 total. Price rose AH to $12.38 (2.15%)
NEW INFO 2 Here is the full webinar.
https://icrinc.zoom.us/rec/play/9GWKdmOYumjWfZuufW3QXpe_FW_g--qeNbg6PnTjTMbnNTgLmCbWjeRFpQga1iPc-elpGap8dnDv8Zww.yD7DjUwuPmapeEdP?continueMode=true&tk=lEYc4F_FkKlgsmCIs6w0gtGHT2kbgVGbUju3cIRBSjk.DQIAAAAV8NK49xZWdldRM2xNSFNQcTBmcE00UzM3bXh3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA&uuid=WN_GKWqbHkeSyuWetJmLFkj4g&_x_zm_rtaid=kR45-uuqRE-L65AxLjpbQw.1611967079119.2c054e3d3f8d8e63339273d9175939ed&_x_zm_rhtaid=866
NEW INFO 1 Live merger webinar with PLBY and MCAC on Friday January 29, 2021 at 12:00 NOON EST link below
https://mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/press-release-details/2021/Playboy-Enterprises-Inc.-and-Mountain-Crest-Acquisition-Corp-Participate-in-SPACInsider-ICR-Webinar-on-January-29th-at-12pm-ET/default.aspx
Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis
!!!WARNING READING AHEAD!!! TL;DR at the end. It will take some time to sort through all the links and read/watch everything, but you should.
In the next couple weeks, Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp is taking Playboy public. The existing ticker MCAC will become PLBY. Special purpose acquisition companies have taken private companies public in recent months with great success. I believe this will be no exception. Notably, Playboy is profitable and has skyrocketing revenue going into a transformational growth phase.
Porn - First and foremost, let's talk about porn. I know what you guys are thinking. “Porno mags are dead. Why would I want to invest in something like that? I can get porn for free online.” Guess what? You are absolutely right. And that’s exactly why Playboy doesn’t do that anymore. That’s right, they eliminated their print division. And yet they somehow STILL make money from porn that people (see: boomers) pay for on their website through PlayboyTV, Playboy Plus, and iPlayboy. Here’s the thing: Playboy has international, multi-generational name recognition from porn. They have content available in 180 countries. It will be the only publicly traded adult entertainment (porn) company. But that is not where this company is going. It will help support them along the way. You can see every Playboy magazine through iPlayboy if you’re interested. NSFW links below:
https://www.playboy.com/
https://www.playboytv.com/
https://www.playboyplus.com/
https://www.iplayboy.com/
Gambling - Some of you might recognize the Playboy brand from gambling trips to places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Cancun, London or Macau. They’ve been in the gambling biz for decades through their casinos, clubs, and licensed gaming products. They see the writing on the wall. COVID is accelerating the transition to digital, application based GAMBLING. That’s right. What we are doing on Robinhood with risky options is gambling, and the only reason regulators might give a shit anymore is because we are making too much money. There may be some restrictions put in place, but gambling from your phone on your couch is not going anywhere. More and more states are allowing things like Draftkings, poker, state ‘lottery” apps, hell - even political betting. Michigan and Virginia just ok’d gambling apps. They won’t be the last. This is all from your couch and any 18 year old with a cracked iphone can access it. Wouldn’t it be cool if Playboy was going to do something like that? They’re already working on it. As per CEO Ben Kohn who we will get to later, “...the company’s casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth.” Honestly, I stopped researching Scientific Games' sports betting segment when I saw the word ‘omni-channel’. That told me all I needed to know about it’s success.
“Our SG Sports™ platform is an enhanced, omni-channel solution for online, self-service and retail fixed odds sports betting – from soccer to tennis, basketball, football, baseball, hockey, motor sports, racing and more.”
https://www.scientificgames.com/
https://www.microgaming.co.uk/
“This latter segment has become increasingly enticing for Playboy, and it said last week that it is considering new tie-ups that could include gaming operators like PointsBet and 888Holdings.”
https://calvinayre.com/2020/10/05/business/playboys-gaming-ops-could-get-a-boost-from-spac-purchase/
As per their SEC filing:
“Significant consumer engagement and spend with Playboy-branded gaming properties around the world, including with leading partners such as Microgaming, Scientific Games, and Caesar’s Entertainment, steers our investment in digital gaming, sports betting and other digital offerings to further support our commercial strategy to expand consumer spend with minimal marginal cost, and gain consumer data to inform go-to-market plans across categories.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tMDAA1
They are expanding into more areas of gaming/gambling, working with international players in the digital gaming/gambling arena, and a Playboy sportsbook is on the horizon.
https://www.playboy.com/read/the-pleasure-of-playing-with-yourself-mobile-gaming-in-the-covid-era
Cannabis - If you’ve ever read through a Playboy magazine, you know they’ve had a positive relationship with cannabis for many years. As of September 2020, Playboy has made a major shift into the cannabis space. Too good to be true you say? Check their website. Playboy currently sells a range of CBD products. This is a good sign. Federal hemp products, which these most likely are, can be mailed across state lines and most importantly for a company like Playboy, can operate through a traditional banking institution. CBD products are usually the first step towards the cannabis space for large companies. Playboy didn’t make these products themselves meaning they are working with a processor in the cannabis industry. Another good sign for future expansion. What else do they have for sale? Pipes, grinders, ashtrays, rolling trays, joint holders. Hmm. Ok. So it looks like they want to sell some shit. They probably don’t have an active interest in cannabis right? Think again:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/09/24/playboy-gets-serious-about-cannabis-law-reform-advocacy-with-new-partnership-grants/?sh=62f044a65cea
“Taking yet another step into the cannabis space, Playboy will be announcing later on Thursday (September, 2020) that it is launching a cannabis law reform and advocacy campaign in partnership with National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Last Prisoner Project, Marijuana Policy Project, the Veterans Cannabis Project, and the Eaze Momentum Program.”
“According to information procured exclusively, the three-pronged campaign will focus on calling for federal legalization. The program also includes the creation of a mentorship plan, through which the Playboy Foundation will support entrepreneurs from groups that are underrepresented in the industry.” Remember that CEO Kohn from earlier? He wrote this recently:
https://medium.com/naked-open-letters-from-playboy/congress-must-pass-the-more-act-c867c35239ae
Seems like he really wants weed to be legal? Hmm wonder why? The writing's on the wall my friends. Playboy wants into the cannabis industry, they are making steps towards this end, and we have favorable conditions for legislative progress.
Don’t think branding your own cannabis line is profitable or worthwhile? Tell me why these 41 celebrity millionaires and billionaires are dummies. I’ll wait.
https://www.celebstoner.com/news/celebstoner-news/2019/07/12/top-celebrity-cannabis-brands/
Confirmation: I hear you. “This all seems pretty speculative. It would be wildly profitable if they pull this shift off. But how do we really know?” Watch this whole video:
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/playboy-ceo-telling-story-female-154907068.html
Man - this interview just gets my juices flowing. And highlights one of my favorite reasons for this play. They have so many different business avenues from which a catalyst could appear. I think paying attention, holding shares, and options on these staggered announcements over the next year is the way I am going to go about it. "There's definitely been a shift to direct-to-consumer," he (Kohn) said. "About 50 percent of our revenue today is direct-to-consumer, and that will continue to grow going forward.” “Kohn touted Playboy's portfolio of both digital and consumer products, with casino-style gaming, in particular, serving a crucial role under the company's new business model. Playboy also has its sights on the emerging cannabis market, from CBD products to marijuana products geared toward sexual health and pleasure.” "If THC does become legal in the United States, we have developed certain strains to enhance your sex life that we will launch," Kohn said. https://cheddar.com/media/playboy-goes-public-health-gaming-lifestyle-focus Oh? The CEO actually said it? Ok then. “We have developed certain strains…” They’re already working with growers on strains and genetics? Ok. There are several legal cannabis markets for those products right now, international and stateside. I expect Playboy licensed hemp and THC pre-rolls by EOY. Something like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/842996758/10-playboy-pre-roll-tubes-limited?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pre+roll+playboy&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1 Maintaining cannabis operations can be costly and a regulatory headache. Playboy’s licensing strategy allows them to pick successful, established partners and sidestep traditional barriers to entry. You know what I like about these new markets? They’re expanding. Worldwide. And they are going to be a bigger deal than they already are with or without Playboy. Who thinks weed and gambling are going away? Too many people like that stuff. These are easy markets. And Playboy is early enough to carve out their spot in each. Fuck it, read this too: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimosman/2020/10/20/playboy-could-be-the-king-of-spacs-here-are-three-picks/?sh=2e13dcaa3e05
Numbers: You want numbers? I got numbers. As per the company’s most recent SEC filing:
“For the year ended December 31, 2019, and the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s historical consolidated revenue was $78.1 million and $101.3 million, respectively, historical consolidated net income (loss) was $(23.6) million and $(4.8) million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA was $13.1 million and $21.8 million, respectively.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Licensing segment contributed $44.2 million in revenue and $31.1 million in net income.”
“In the ninth months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Direct-to-Consumer segment contributed $40.2 million in revenue and net income of $0.1 million.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Digital Subscriptions and Content segment contributed $15.4 million in revenue and net income of $7.4 million.”
They are profitable across all three of their current business segments.
“Playboy’s return to the public markets presents a transformed, streamlined and high-growth business. The Company has over $400 million in cash flows contracted through 2029, sexual wellness products available for sale online and in over 10,000 major retail stores in the US, and a growing variety of clothing and branded lifestyle and digital gaming products.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
Growth: Playboy has massive growth in China and massive growth potential in India. “In China, where Playboy has spent more than 25 years building its business, our licensees have an enormous footprint of nearly 2,500 brick and mortar stores and 1,000 ecommerce stores selling high quality, Playboy-branded men’s casual wear, shoes/footwear, sleepwear, swimwear, formal suits, leather & non-leather goods, sweaters, active wear, and accessories. We have achieved significant growth in China licensing revenues over the past several years in partnership with strong licensees and high-quality manufacturers, and we are planning for increased growth through updates to our men’s fashion lines and expansion into adjacent categories in men’s skincare and grooming, sexual wellness, and women’s fashion, a category where recent launches have been well received.” The men’s market in China is about the same size as the entire population of the United States and European Union combined. Playboy is a leading brand in this market. They are expanding into the women’s market too. Did you know CBD toothpaste is huge in China? China loves CBD products and has hemp fields that dwarf those in the US. If Playboy expands their CBD line China it will be huge. Did you know the gambling money in Macau absolutely puts Las Vegas to shame? Technically, it's illegal on the mainland, but in reality, there is a lot of gambling going on in China. https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/10/19/magic-johnson-and-uncle-buds-cbd-brand-enter-china-via-tmall-partnership/?sh=271776ca411e “In India, Playboy today has a presence through select apparel licensees and hospitality establishments. Consumer research suggests significant growth opportunities in the territory with Playboy’s brand and categories of focus.” “Playboy Enterprises has announced the expansion of its global consumer products business into India as part of a partnership with Jay Jay Iconic Brands, a leading fashion and lifestyle Company in India.” “The Indian market today is dominated by consumers under the age of 35, who represent more than 65 percent of the country’s total population and are driving India’s significant online shopping growth. The Playboy brand’s core values of playfulness and exploration resonate strongly with the expressed desires of today’s younger millennial consumers. For us, Playboy was the perfect fit.” “The Playboy international portfolio has been flourishing for more than 25 years in several South Asian markets such as China and Japan. In particular, it has strategically targeted the millennial and gen-Z audiences across categories such as apparel, footwear, home textiles, eyewear and watches.” https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/playboy-expands-global-footprint-india It looks like they gave COVID the heisman in terms of net damage sustained: “Although Playboy has not suffered any material adverse consequences to date from the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has been impacted both negatively and positively. The remote working and stay-at-home orders resulted in the closure of the London Playboy Club and retail stores of Playboy’s licensees, decreasing licensing revenues in the second quarter, as well as causing supply chain disruption and less efficient product development thereby slowing the launch of new products. However, these negative impacts were offset by an increase in Yandy’s direct-to-consumer sales, which have benefited in part from overall increases in online retail sales so far during the pandemic.” Looks like the positives are long term (Yandy acquisition) and the negatives are temporary (stay-at-home orders).
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921006093/tm213766-1_defa14a.htm
This speaks to their ability to maintain a financially solvent company throughout the transition phase to the aforementioned areas. They’d say some fancy shit like “expanded business model to encompass four key revenue streams: Sexual Wellness, Style & Apparel, Gaming & Lifestyle, and Beauty & Grooming.” I hear “we’re just biding our time with these trinkets until those dollar dollar bill y’all markets are fully up and running.” But the truth is these existing revenue streams are profitable, scalable, and rapidly expanding Playboy’s e-commerce segment around the world.
"Even in the face of COVID this year, we've been able to grow EBITDA over 100 percent and revenue over 68 percent, and I expect that to accelerate going into 2021," he said. “Playboy is accelerating its growth in company-owned and branded consumer products in attractive and expanding markets in which it has a proven history of brand affinity and consumer spend.”
Also in the SEC filing, the Time Frame:
“As we detailed in the definitive proxy statement, the SPAC stockholder meeting to vote on the transaction has been set for February 9th, and, subject to stockholder approval and satisfaction of the other closing conditions, we expect to complete the merger and begin trading on NASDAQ under ticker PLBY shortly thereafter,” concluded Kohn.
The Players: Suhail “The Whale” Rizvi (HMFIC), Ben “The Bridge” Kohn (CEO), “lil” Suying Liu & “Big” Dong Liu (Young-gun China gang). I encourage you to look these folks up. The real OG here is Suhail Rizvi. He’s from India originally and Chairman of the Board for the new PLBY company. He was an early investor in Twitter, Square, Facebook and others. His firm, Rizvi Traverse, currently invests in Instacart, Pinterest, Snapchat, Playboy, and SpaceX. Maybe you’ve heard of them. “Rizvi, who owns a sprawling three-home compound in Greenwich, Connecticut, and a 1.65-acre estate in Palm Beach, Florida, near Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, moved to Iowa Falls when he was five. His father was a professor of psychology at Iowa. Along with his older brother Ashraf, a hedge fund manager, Rizvi graduated from Wharton business school.” “Suhail Rizvi: the 47-year-old 'unsocial' social media baron: When Twitter goes public in the coming weeks (2013), one of the biggest winners will be a 47-year-old financier who guards his secrecy so zealously that he employs a person to take down his Wikipedia entry and scrub his photos from the internet. In IPO, Twitter seeks to be 'anti-FB'” “Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia looks like a big Twitter winner. So do the moneyed clients of Jamie Dimon. But as you’ve-got-to-be-joking wealth washed over Twitter on Thursday — a company that didn’t exist eight years ago was worth $31.7 billion after its first day on the stock market — the non-boldface name of the moment is Suhail R. Rizvi. Mr. Rizvi, 47, runs a private investment company that is the largest outside investor in Twitter with a 15.6 percent stake worth $3.8 billion at the end of trading on Thursday (November, 2013). Using a web of connections in the tech industry and in finance, as well as a hearty dose of good timing, he brought many prominent names in at the ground floor, including the Saudi prince and some of JPMorgan’s wealthiest clients.” https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/technology/at-twitter-working-behind-the-scenes-toward-a-billion-dollar-payday.html Y’all like that Arab money? How about a dude that can call up Saudi Princes and convince them to spend? Funniest shit about I read about him: “Rizvi was able to buy only $100 million in Facebook shortly before its IPO, thus limiting his returns, according to people with knowledge of the matter.” Poor guy :(
He should be fine with the 16 million PLBY shares he's going to have though :)
Shuhail also has experience in the entertainment industry. He’s invested in companies like SESAC, ICM, and Summit Entertainment. He’s got Hollywood connections to blast this stuff post-merger. And he’s at least partially responsible for that whole Twilight thing. I’m team Edward btw.
I really like what Suhail has done so far. He’s lurked in the shadows while Kohn is consolidating the company, trimming the fat, making Playboy profitable, and aiming the ship at modern growing markets.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-ipo-rizvi-insight/insight-little-known-hollywood-investor-poised-to-score-with-twitter-ipo-idUSBRE9920VW20131003
Ben “The Bridge” Kohn is an interesting guy. He’s the connection between Rizvi Traverse and Playboy. He’s both CEO of Playboy and was previously Managing Partner at Rizvi Traverse. Ben seems to be the voice of the Playboy-Rizvi partnership, which makes sense with Suhail’s privacy concerns. Kohn said this:
“Today is a very big day for all of us at Playboy and for all our partners globally. I stepped into the CEO role at Playboy in 2017 because I saw the biggest opportunity of my career. Playboy is a brand and platform that could not be replicated today. It has massive global reach, with more than $3B of global consumer spend and products sold in over 180 countries. Our mission – to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure – is rooted in our 67-year history and creates a clear focus for our business and role we play in people’s lives, providing them with the products, services and experiences that create a lifestyle of pleasure. We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct to consumer capabilities,” said Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy.
“Playboy today is a highly profitable commerce business with a total addressable market projected in the trillions of dollars,” Mr. Kohn continued, “We are actively selling into the Sexual Wellness consumer category, projected to be approximately $400 billion in size by 2024, where our recently launched intimacy products have rolled out to more than 10,000 stores at major US retailers in the United States. Combined with our owned & operated ecommerce Sexual Wellness initiatives, the category will contribute more than 40% of our revenue this year. In our Apparel and Beauty categories, our collaborations with high-end fashion brands including Missguided and PacSun are projected to achieve over $50M in retail sales across the US and UK this year, our leading men’s apparel lines in China expanded to nearly 2500 brick and mortar stores and almost 1000 digital stores, and our new men’s and women’s fragrance line recently launched in Europe. In Gaming, our casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth. Our product strategy is informed by years of consumer data as we actively expand from a purely licensing model into owning and operating key high-growth product lines focused on driving profitability and consumer lifetime value. We are thrilled about the future of Playboy. Our foundation has been set to drive further growth and margin, and with the committed capital from this transaction and our more than $180M in NOLs, we will take advantage of the opportunity in front of us, building to our goal of $100M of adjusted EBITDA in 2025.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
Also, according to their Form 4s, “Big” Dong Liu and “lil” Suying Liu just loaded up with shares last week. These guys are brothers and seem like the Chinese market connection. They are only 32 & 35 years old. I don’t even know what that means, but it's provocative.
https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1832415.htm
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-ii-002600994.html
Y’all like that China money?
“Mr. Liu has been the Chief Financial Officer of Dongguan Zhishang Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd., a regional designer, manufacturer and distributor of LED lights serving commercial customers throughout Southern China since November 2016, at which time he led a syndicate of investments into the firm. Mr. Liu has since overseen the financials of Dongguan Zhishang as well as provided strategic guidance to its board of directors, advising on operational efficiency and cash flow performance. From March 2010 to October 2016, Mr. Liu was the Head of Finance at Feidiao Electrical Group Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese manufacturer of electrical outlets headquartered in Shanghai and with businesses in the greater China region as well as Europe.”
Dr. Suying Liu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp., commented, “Playboy is a unique and compelling investment opportunity, with one of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, its proven consumer affinity and spend, and its enormous future growth potential in its four product segments and new and existing geographic regions. I am thrilled to be partnering with Ben and his exceptional team to bring his vision to fruition.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
These guys are good. They have a proven track record of success across multiple industries. Connections and money run deep with all of these guys. I don’t think they’re in the game to lose.
I was going to write a couple more paragraphs about why you should have a look at this but really the best thing you can do is read this SEC filing from a couple days ago. It explains the situation in far better detail. Specifically, look to page 137 and read through their strategy. Also, look at their ownership percentages and compensation plans including the stock options and their prices. The financials look great, revenue is up 90% Q3, and it looks like a bright future.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
I’m hesitant to attach this because his position seems short term, but I’m going to with a warning because he does hit on some good points (two are below his link) and he’s got a sizable position in this thing (500k+ on margin, I think). I don’t know this guy but he did look at the same publicly available info and make roughly the same prediction, albeit without the in depth gambling or cannabis mention. You can also search reddit for ‘MCAC’ and very few relevant results come up and none of them even come close to really looking at this thing.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gOvAd6lebs452hFlWWbxVjQ3VMsjGBkbJeXRwDwIJfM/edit?usp=sharing
“Also, before you people start making claims that Playboy is a “boomer” company, STOP RIGHT THERE. This is not a good argument. Simply put. The only thing that matters is Playboy’s name recognition, not their archaic business model which doesn’t even exist anymore as they have completely repurposed their business.”
“Imagine not buying $MCAC at a 400M valuation lol. Streetwear department is worth 1B alone imo.”
Considering the ridiculous Chinese growth as a lifestyle brand, he’s not wrong.
Current Cultural Significance and Meme Value: A year ago I wouldn’t have included this section but the events from the last several weeks (even going back to tsla) have proven that a company’s ability to meme and/or gain social network popularity can have an effect. Tik-tok, Snapchat, Twitch, Reddit, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter. They all have Playboy stuff on them. Kids in middle and highschool know what Playboy is but will likely never see or touch one of the magazines in person. They’ll have a Playboy hoodie though. Crazy huh? A lot like GME, PLBY would hugely benefit from meme-value stock interest to drive engagement towards their new business model while also building strategic coffers. This interest may not directly and/or significantly move the stock price but can generate significant interest from larger players who will.
Bull Case: The year is 2025. Playboy is now the world leader pleasure brand. They began by offering Playboy licensed gaming products, including gambling products, direct to consumers through existing names. By 2022, demand has skyrocketed and Playboy has designed and released their own gambling platforms. In 2025, they are also a leading cannabis brand in the United States and Canada with proprietary strains and products geared towards sexual wellness. Cannabis was legalized in the US in 2023 when President Biden got glaucoma but had success with cannabis treatment. He personally pushes for cannabis legalization as he steps out of office after his first term. Playboy has also grown their brand in China and India to multi-billion per year markets. The stock goes up from 11ish to 100ish and everyone makes big gains buying somewhere along the way.
Bear Case: The United States does a complete 180 on marijuana and gambling. President Biden overdoses on marijuana in the Lincoln bedroom when his FDs go tits up and he loses a ton of money in his sports book app after the Fighting Blue Hens narrowly lose the National Championship to Bama. Playboy is unable to expand their cannabis and gambling brands but still does well with their worldwide lifestyle brand. They gain and lose some interest in China and India but the markets are too large to ignore them completely. The stock goes up from 11ish to 13ish and everyone makes 15-20% gains.
TL;DR: Successful technology/e-commerce investment firm took over Playboy to turn it into a porn, online gambling/gaming, sports book, cannabis company, worldwide lifestyle brand that promotes sexual wellness, vetern access, women-ownership, minority-ownership, and “pleasure for all”. Does a successful online team reinventing an antiquated physical copy giant sound familiar? No options yet, shares only for now. $11.38 per share at time of writing. My guess? $20 by the end of February. $50 by EOY. This is not financial advice. I am not qualified to give financial advice. I’m just sayin’ I would personally use a Playboy sports book app while smoking a Playboy strain specific joint and it would be cool if they did that. Do your own research. You’d probably want to start here:
WARNING - POTENTIALLY NSFW - SEXY MODELS AHEAD - no actual nudity though
https://s26.q4cdn.com/895475556/files/doc_presentations/Playboy-Craig-Hallum-Conference-Investor-Presentation-11_17_20-compressed.pdf
Or here:
https://www.mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/default.aspx
Jimmy Chill: “Get into any SPAC at $10 or $11 and you are going to make money.”
STL;DR: Buy MCAC. MCAC > PLBY couple weeks. Rocketship. Moon.
Position: 5000 shares. I will buy short, medium, and long-dated calls once available.

$CATV - New CEO, Patents, Acquisitions, Multiple Revenue-Generating Businesses, Fully Integrated CBD Chain
4Cable TV International, Inc. (OTC: CATV) is determined to become a fully integrated Global CBD/Hemp business from seed to sale. Farming is where it all starts, and distribution is where it all goes. Today 4Cable TV, International, Inc. moves one of its chess pieces by announcing it is acquiring CIGN, LLC. As a result of the acquisition, revenues for 2021 are expected to be in the millions of dollars.
$CATV will be OTC PINK Soon
https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/CATV/news/story?e&id=1797202
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TL6i6MHPtnMQCKcAZ9BgYTMxQNI5LWRF/view
Company Website:
http://www.4cabletvint.com/#home
Company Email
[email protected]
NEW CEO Since Dec 18th 2020
Michael Feldenkrais
https://youtu.be/ArFs-b0ww_Y
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelfeldenkraislawyer
His largest accomplishment came when he organized several mergers and acquisitions with a Canadian publicly traded company Amaya Gaming that resulted in the increase of its market cap from 50 million dollars to 4.9 billion dollars in less than 2 years.
Amaya Gaming In Deal To Buy PokerStars For $4.9 Billion
One of the most high-stakes, controversial and intriguing business stories in the history of the modern gambling industry is heading toward its conclusion. PokerStars, the world’s biggest online poker company, has agreed to sell itself for $4.9 billion to Amaya Gaming, a small publicly-traded Canadian supplier of gambling equipment.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2014/06/12/amaya-gaming-in-deal-to-buy-pokerstars-for-4-9-billion/?sh=3286a4104469
Experience: Over 20 Years of Professional Experience:
Michael, is a well recognized attorney that has appeared on all major Spanish and English television networks. Michael manages a successful media, lead generation, gaming and marketing portfolio.
CANNABIS
In this video below Michael Feldenkrais is talking about how excited he is to start growing the plants and the business.
https://thefloridachannel.org/videos/capitol-update-extended-hemp-applications-open/
In the Cannabis space, Mr. Feldenkrais has been very active for the last 6 years from intellectual property, cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, and retail. (Seed to Sale). Starting his Cannabis career, he focused on acquiring intellectual property in Israel to deploying such in the United States, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. In recent years he built a franchise company to open 22 Medical Clinics recommending the use of Cannabis and sold a total of 50 franchised locations in less than one year.
He then concentrated his efforts in cultivating Cannabis in Florida out of a state-of-the-art Cravo greenhouse in Homestead for commercial and research purposes under the auspices of the University of Florida.
Entrepreneur:
Early in his career, he built two of the largest Prepaid Cellular Phone Card distribution companies in Colombia and Venezuela, wherein he deployed a distribution model using informal workers and converting them into main-stream employees giving jobs to over 14,500 people.
Media and Corporate Related Experience:
In 2008 he developed a success based marketing system. He has proven expertise in the operations, management and procedure implementation of media campaigns, lead generation software, and lead analytics. He expanded the companies business into the gaming category closing transactions in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The company has relationships with television production companies, casino companies, motion pictures companies and more. Using Success Based Marketing, he guided the company and all its aspects from creating the proprietary lead software, harnessing lead analytic's for re-marketing, to purchasing media for lead creation, and to the creative production of the media campaigns that would generate the most response for the money spent.
Lawyer Experience:
Respected and trusted television spokesperson. All the major television stations have contacted Michael to speak on legal issues. He has appeared regularly in television and radio, both nationally and internationally as both a consultant and a host. Has produced several television shows and has appeared regularly on TV stations like Univision, NBC, and Telemundo.
https://www.floridabar.org/directories/find-mbprofile/?num=991708
Specialties: Business Development and Management / Media Production and Distribution / Mergers and Acquisitions / Corporate, International, and Immigration Law
Since he has been CEO of $CATV

1. Has acquired 3 new revenue producing companies in 3 weeks. Health Care and Wellness Clinics of America, LLC ("HCWCOA"), and Corporation Clinic, LLC ("Corporation Clinic") Chai MD, Hip n Chai and Get Medicated.

https://hip4all.com
http://www.hipnchai.com
https://www.canitindustries.com
http://www.getmedicated.com

1. LOI for CIGN a 4th revenue producing company (He is already CEO of CIGN) They're finalizing the acquisition of CIGN Farms in FL. They grow and distribute hemp and hemp seeds for CBD products, etc.

http://canitgrow.com
https://instagram.com/cignfarm?igshid=1oyaudokoq0d1

1. Hired Karma Snack Agency as marketing firm.

https://karmasnack.com
https://www.corporationwiki.com/Florida/Miami/karma-snack-llc/27468595.aspx

1. Jan 8th PR saying Filings Imminent and are excited to announce that it is estimating the filing of its financial statement and disclosures in the coming weeks..

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-inc-announces-certain-incoming-financials-filings-are-imminent-301203235.html
Our New CEO Comes Packing ”Trademarks”
Facial skin care preparations infused with hemp, namely, makeup and eye makeup removers, facial cleansers, facial scrubs… Owned by: Michael Feldenkrais Serial Number: 86843184
https://trademarks.justia.com/868/43/hip-86843184.html
PRESS RELEASES
February 3, 2021
Media company 4CableTV International Inc (OTC:CATV) has qualified for Pink Current Information status on OTCMarkets.com. To be eligible, 4Cable must subscribe to the OTC Disclosure & News Service and submit its disclosures in accordance with OTC Market filings and OTC Markets' Pink Basic Disclosure Guidelines. 4Cable was unable to file before renewing its OTC registration or status. Once the reinstatement is completed, the company will submit its disclosures. Its financial reports will be reachable on the company’s website once it’s back and running, which should be around February 5, 2021
Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.benzinga.com/amp/content/19469425
January 29, 2021
4Cable TV International, Inc. (OTC: CATV) (the "Company") announces today that it hired Karma Snack Agency as their Marketing Firm. While working diligently on the accounting to file and be current, the company is working hard to ensure revenues for the company grow exponentially.
Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-signs-deal-with-karma-snack-agency-as-their-marketing-firm-301218096.html
January 19, 2021
First, the company has hired Mark Slaugh. Mark Slaugh is the CEO and founder of iComply; the oldest Cannabis Compliance Company in the United States. The second hire is Arthur A. Estopinan, a veteran player in the United States House of Representatives. Effective January 25, 2021 both individuals begin working for the company assisting 4Cable TV International to vet out the Mergers and Acquisitions and assist in the process of growing the company globally in the Cannabis Industry.
Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-announces-the-hiring-of-two-board-of-advisors-301210558.html
Mark Slaugh
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-slaugh-26713221
https://mogreenway.com/2020/12/21/qa-with-mark-slaugh/
Mark Slaugh was on the board of directors for icomply
https://icomplycannabis.com
Arthur A. Estopinan
https://www.linkedin.com/in/art-estopinan-61359139
http://hispanicpolicygroup.com/arthur-a-estopinan/
January 8, 2021
4Cable TV International, Inc. (OTC: CATV) (the "Company") is excited to announce that it is estimating the filing of its financial statement and disclosures in the coming weeks. Working diligently with the accounting department, the company strives to provide true transparency to shareholders.
Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-inc-announces-certain-incoming-financials-filings-are-imminent-301203235.html
January 4, 2021
4Cable TV International, Inc. (OTC: CATV) (the "Company") announced today that it completed the acquisition of several companies devoted to support a global CBD services and products company. Effective December 31, 2020, the Company acquired 100% of the equity interests of each of Health Care and Wellness Clinics of America, LLC ("HCWCOA"), and Corporation Clinic, LLC ("Corporation Clinic")
Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-inc-announces-acquisition-of-healthcare-and-wellness-clinics-of-america-llc-and-corporation-clinic-llc-as-the-retail-arms-and-distribution-of-cbd-based-products-301200032.html
December 28, 2020
A group oriented to become a leader in CBD based products markets, today announced they have signed a Letter of Intent (the "LOI") devoted to join forces to control one of the first steps in becoming an integrated hemp company. Signatories to the letter of intent include CIGN, LLC, and 4Cable TV International, Inc. (OTC: CATV). 4Cable will take over to operate as the agricultural grower of hemp. This is the first step in the chain for CBD based products to be manufactured by 4Cable TV International, Inc., through its future subsidiaries, which are expected to join the group in any foreseeable future, and function as a global company in the CBD business. The letter signals the intention of the signatories to use their best efforts to work together in establishing an appealing group of business units that will accomplish the expectation of a fast-growing market.
Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-inc-signs-letter-of-intent-to-acquire-cign-llc-to-grow-hemp-301198599.html
December 11, 2020
Jeff Wildermuth, CEO of 4Cable TV International, Inc. (OTC PINK: CATV) announced today that the Company is in the process of finalizing the details in regards to the forward acquisition of a CBD and Hemp Company. The name of the acquired company will be revealed upon final consummation of the deal.
In preparation for the transition, the Company has accepted the resignation of current CEO Jeff Wildermuth, and has appointed Michael Feldenkrais as the new CEO and President of the Company.
Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-inc-announces-new-ceo-and-near-completion-of-acquisition-of-cbd--hemp-company-301191242.html
October 22, 2020
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla., Oct. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Jeff Wildermuth, CEO of 4Cable TV International, Inc. (OTC PINK: CATV) announced today that the Company has no plans to reverse its stock. This announcement is in response to the several inquiries that he has received regarding this issue
Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-inc-announces-that-it-is-not-planning-on-reversing-the-common-stock-301157977.html
October 19, 2020
The Company is also still exploring a forward acquisition of a Medical Marijuana and Hemp Company. As was recently announced, Company is still considering two different CBD companies and expects to make its final decision in the upcoming weeks.
Source: https://marketwirenews.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-inc-announces-that-it-is-exp-6718975385344526.html

A Pebble : Previous : Next : My Other stories
Mass Effect: Logical Conclusions, The Unification War, Part 10
Operation Star fall is the UNE’s answer to the stabilized front lines that had formed by early March. Most of the world’s military was space based with land armies having atrophied during the long years of peace. Fortunately the orbital colonies, already governed under international law, had remained loyal, though a few were damaged by nationalist terror attacks. The operation would consist of three phases, the first was establishing orbital supremacy over all of earth, the second would be a general ground based offensive supported by special forces inserted from orbit alongside pinpoint orbital bombardment. The final phase would be the emergency delivery of food and aid to the civilians trapped behind the nationalist lines once the fighting ended. It was ambitious and no military had ever attempted anything on such a scale before in human history but with more dirty bombs being detonated and actual nuclear weapons falling into the hands of the anti-internationalists, the clock was ticking closer to midnight with every passing second.
March 10th, 2020, 13:00 Coordinated Universal Time
Dukh Revolyutsii, High Earth Orbit
The first combined UNE orbital fleet flew in formation towards Earth. Nuclear explosions pushed them towards the shimmering jewel of life that humanity called home. The Dukh Revolyutsii was joined by the Enterprise, a formerly American AKV carrier, the Dreadnought, a British space battleship based around a powerful particle accelerator and the Japanese Itano missile bus. Each ship was entirely untested in combat, their designs based upon theories never before tested in the fires of war.
Their adversaries for today’s battle was the Italian designed Leonardo da Vinci, a laser equipped battleship fighting in support of the Florida Orbital Fortress. While outnumbered, both the fortress and the da Vinci far out-ranged their foes. Lasers were the king of range, though they were lacking in immediate effect. The question of the day was, would the active cooling aboard the Dukh Revolyutsii be able to counteract the ranged advantage or would laser weaponry prove supreme?
Captain Yelena Kovalev watched the tactical display from her captain’s chair. She was thoroughly strapped down, though the ship’s soft AI was only cruising in a straight line for the moment. Behind her, in the corner of the combat information center that controlled the warship, the two Shepards sat watching the battle. Since they were technically guests on her ship, she’d given them front row seats to the battle, seats that came with staying in the most protected part of the warship.
“We’re about to enter combat range. The enemy has deployed mirror drones.” The ship’s sensors officer announced and Kovalev nodded.
“Begin drunk walk, I don’t want them getting free shots in. Tell the Enterprise to begin deploying their craft. I want four of our own AKVs heading towards that station, three kinetic, one wide angle casaba at full blast.” Nobody in the room blinked an eye at the order to use nuclear ordinance this early in the battle. After all the crew of the Revolyutsii had already complied with such orders previously.
The ship rumbled, launching four missiles at a blistering 5 kilometers per second across space. Several hundred miles from the Revolysutii, the Enterprise began to steadily launch AKVs to sweep the area of mirror drones, opening up a route towards the enemy forces.
“Missiles one and two have been disabled, they’re going to burn up on reentry.” Everyone in the room held their breath as the sensors officer watched his feed, announcing a play by play of the distant battle. “Third kinetic is killed, Casaba is closing into effective range.” Everyone could feel the tension despite the thousands of miles that separated them from the action. “Nuclear detonation confirmed, the enemy is temporarily blinded. They’ll be back up and running in fifteen seconds.”
“The captain of the Itano has just unleashed half his total arsenal.” The communication’s officer announced and everyone saw hundreds of heat signatures flare to life around the Japanese warship.
“Perfect, order the Dreadnought to close at full acceleration. We’re closing in as well, use those missiles for cover!” Kovalev felt the ship jolt, the AI beginning to kick it around to avoid incoming fire in a semi-random three dimensional zig zag.
Missiles screamed across the battle space, lasers burning them away in a wink of plasma. The whipple shields of the Dukh Revolyutsii boiled away whenever one of the deadly beams struck the ship, however the inner armor ignored the deadly light, its active cooling wicking away the heat with ease. The Enterprise, already within the effective range of its own weapons held its position, kicking itself around in a high g dance that had the crew pressed into their combat harnesses. The main guns of the Revolyutsii recharged and a second wave of kinetics were sent downrange, the guided missiles joining the Itano’s barrage, though traveling significantly faster.
Hyper sonic debris began to fill the orbitals, smashing into satellites and creating a deadly chain reaction. Destroyed satellites hurtled through space slamming into still operating satellite while ground side, the effects of the Dukh Revolutsii’s nuclear attack had created an impressive EMP that blanketed most of the Caribbean sea and its surrounding coastline. The Leonardo da Vinci, which was the target of the Itano’s strike, quickly found its radiators blazing with heat. Its point defenses were sweeping the missiles from the sky but it just couldn’t keep up with the barrage of inbound weapons without cooking itself. Within the ship’s combat information center, alarms blared a warning that the laser engine was rapidly loosing efficiency. The captain of the doomed ship snarled angrily moments before dozens of missiles slammed into the da Vinci. The whipple shielding stopped the first few hits but the ship quickly disintegrated as three shots from the Dukh Revolyutsii made contact.
“How is our armor holding up?” Kovalev, barked, trying to keep track of the information on the half dozen screens in front of her.
“It’s holding up, our laser engine is creating a lot of waste heat and the enemy doesn't’ seem to have projectiles.” The weapons officer announced and Kovalev grinned.
“Kill the reactor and the laser engine. Close to suicide distance. Get the accelerators charged, I don’t want them intercepting our next volley.” It was a gamble, closing with a laser meant the beam would effectively keep getting stronger, however the Dukh Revolyutsii’s armor was easily handling the heat output even at their current distance. If they killed the fusion reactor and the laser engine they’d be vulnerable to kinetic attacks but they’d free up their radiators to pump away even more laser heat, allowing for a close pass of the station; assuming their armor’s cooling system could handle the task. “Inform the other ships of our plan, have the Itano fire off another salvo.”
“The captain of the Enterprise just wished us god speed, the captain of the Itano also sends his regards.” The radio operator announced, fighting the constant g forces crushing his chest to get the words out.
The ever present hum of the ship’s fusion reactor vanished, replace by the distant buzz of the active cooling system. The Rumble of the orion’s impact plate occasionally made itself known and everyone watched the distance between the Revolyutsii and the Florida close. The orbital defense platform’s lasers all focused on the incoming battleship but without kinetic weapons it had no way of punishing the Revolyutsii for its gamble. The laser light was simply heat, which meant it was radiated away harmlessly as the ship rapidly closed the gap. Captain Kovalev had gambled her life and it’d paid off, for she now sat under the burning light of the Florida, sitting at suicide distance unharmed.
“Captain of the Florida, surrender or I will strike your station with four hundred megaton nuclear spears.” Kovalev’s words flew across space and the world held its breath. The battle was being watched by people on both sides of the war and the nuclear blast Kovalev had unleashed previously proved she wasn’t bluffing.
“This is John Lee, we will never surrender.” Captain Kovalev shook her head in disgust and ordered her gunner to open fire.
“You’re a fool to kill your crew for pride, John. Once that station is destroyed launch drones to look for survivors.” Kovalev shouted over the rumble of the ship’s mass accelerators and her crew were already complying with the order as four stars of nuclear hellfire erupted in space between the two ships. The blasts sent streams of screaming plasma into the orbital fortress, gutting it entirely. “And get the fusion reactor and laser engine back online, we’ve got Kessler syndrome!”
Rotating her chair to face the two Shepards, Kovalev looked over at them before letting her mask drop.
“Looks like you’ll be free of my command after all.” Yelena smiled wearily, beads of sweat visible on her forehead.
“We’ll prepare to drop once rescue operations have finished. It’s been an honor working with you, Captain Kovalev, though I wish we’d met under nicer circumstances.” Sigmund saluted the exhausted captain quickly returned the gesture and returned to her previous position, facing her combat display. For Yelena Kovalev, the battle wouldn't be over until the last enemy cosmonaut was rescued or accounted for.
***
Far below the battle, the anti-internationalists holding what had been the southern United States and the Caribbean began to realize the scale of the disaster they were now facing. Cut off from from their food supply, they had lost orbital and aerial supremacy. The EMPs released by the fighting had destroyed the civilian infrastructure, which meant the entire electrical grid outside of a few hardened facilities. Even supposedly hardened systems had fried, their defenses overstated and under performing. Still spaceships couldn’t hold ground and even if the writing was on the wall, brave men and women would be forced to bleed and die over every inch of land.
***
I must say it is difficult going from writing fantasy naval battles to realistic space combat. I'm mostly a fantasy kind of woman. I write about orcs, elves, dwarves and gunpowder wielding humans. This? This is hard but I think I managed to keep it true to real life. I know it's harder to write but space battles are not naval battles.
They're three dimensional affairs that are far more complex. Here are simpler examples. You have two fleets orbiting in opposite directions. They only have a few seconds to maybe minutes to fire at each other before disappearing over the planetary horizon before once again meeting up with each other some hours later to repeat the process. Or you could have two fleets orbiting in the same direction with one trying to close in on the other, which has an entirely different dynamic. There is a reason I made this fight over a geostationary position. It's easier to manage and I need the practice.
Rant over, I hope you enjoyed and if you've spotted any errors, let me know! If you want a fantasy, I posted for the monthly prompt and you can find that here.
Guys, Sovereign wont leave. He's set himself up in my closet, hissing and spitting particle beams whenever I try to get him out. What should I do?

$CATV - New CEO, Patents, Acquisitions, Multiple Revenue-Generating Businesses, Fully Integrated CBD Chain
4Cable TV International, Inc. (OTC: CATV) is determined to become a fully integrated Global CBD/Hemp business from seed to sale. Farming is where it all starts, and distribution is where it all goes. Today 4Cable TV, International, Inc. moves one of its chess pieces by announcing it is acquiring CIGN, LLC. As a result of the acquisition, revenues for 2021 are expected to be in the millions of dollars.
$CATV will be OTC PINK Soon
https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/CATV/news/story?e&id=1797202
Company Website:
http://www.hcwcoa.com
NEW CEO Since Dec 18th 2020
Michael Feldenkrais
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelfeldenkraislawyer
Amaya Gaming In Deal To Buy PokerStars For $4.9 Billion
His largest accomplishment came when he organized several mergers and acquisitions with a Canadian publicly traded company Amaya Gaming that resulted in the increase of its market cap from 50 million dollars to 4.9 billion dollars in less than 2 years.
One of the most high-stakes, controversial and intriguing business stories in the history of the modern gambling industry is heading toward its conclusion. PokerStars, the world’s biggest online poker company, has agreed to sell itself for $4.9 billion to Amaya Gaming, a small publicly-traded Canadian supplier of gambling equipment.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2014/06/12/amaya-gaming-in-deal-to-buy-pokerstars-for-4-9-billion/?sh=3286a4104469
Experience: Over 20 Years of Professional Experience:
Michael, is a well recognized attorney that has appeared on all major Spanish and English television networks. Michael manages a successful media, lead generation, gaming and marketing portfolio.
CANNABIS
In this video below Michael Feldenkrais is talking about how excited he is to start growing the plants and the business.
https://thefloridachannel.org/videos/capitol-update-extended-hemp-applications-open/
In the Cannabis space, Mr. Feldenkrais has been very active for the last 6 years from intellectual property, cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, and retail. (Seed to Sale). Starting his Cannabis career, he focused on acquiring intellectual property in Israel to deploying such in the United States, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. In recent years he built a franchise company to open 22 Medical Clinics recommending the use of Cannabis and sold a total of 50 franchised locations in less than one year.
He then concentrated his efforts in cultivating Cannabis in Florida out of a state-of-the-art Cravo greenhouse in Homestead for commercial and research purposes under the auspices of the University of Florida.
Entrepreneur:
Early in his career, he built two of the largest Prepaid Cellular Phone Card distribution companies in Colombia and Venezuela, wherein he deployed a distribution model using informal workers and converting them into main-stream employees giving jobs to over 14,500 people.
Media and Corporate Related Experience:
In 2008 he developed a success based marketing system. He has proven expertise in the operations, management and procedure implementation of media campaigns, lead generation software, and lead analytics. He expanded the companies business into the gaming category closing transactions in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The company has relationships with television production companies, casino companies, motion pictures companies and more. Using Success Based Marketing, he guided the company and all its aspects from creating the proprietary lead software, harnessing lead analytic's for re-marketing, to purchasing media for lead creation, and to the creative production of the media campaigns that would generate the most response for the money spent.
Lawyer Experience:
Respected and trusted television spokesperson. All the major television stations have contacted Michael to speak on legal issues. He has appeared regularly in television and radio, both nationally and internationally as both a consultant and a host. Has produced several television shows and has appeared regularly on TV stations like Univision, NBC, and Telemundo.
https://www.floridabar.org/directories/find-mbprofile/?num=991708
Specialties: Business Development and Management / Media Production and Distribution / Mergers and Acquisitions / Corporate, International, and Immigration Law
Since he has been CEO of $CATV

1. Has acquired 3 new revenue producing companies in 3 weeks. Health Care and Wellness Clinics of America, LLC ("HCWCOA"), and Corporation Clinic, LLC ("Corporation Clinic") Chai MD, Hip n Chai & Get Medicated.

https://hip4all.com
http://www.hipnchai.com
https://www.canitindustries.com
http://www.getmedicated.com

1. LOI for CIGN a 4th revenue producing company (He is already CEO of CIGN) They're finalizing the acquisition of CIGN Farms in FL. They grow and distribute hemp and hemp seeds for CBD products, etc.

http://canitgrow.com
https://instagram.com/cignfarm?igshid=1oyaudokoq0d1

1. Hired Karma Snack Agency as marketing firm.

https://karmasnack.com
https://www.corporationwiki.com/Florida/Miami/karma-snack-llc/27468595.aspx

1. Jan 8th PR saying Filings Imminent and are excited to announce that it is estimating the filing of its financial statement and disclosures in the coming weeks..

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-inc-announces-certain-incoming-financials-filings-are-imminent-301203235.html
Additional DD Our New CEO Comes Packing ”Trademarks”
Facial skin care preparations infused with hemp, namely, makeup and eye makeup removers, facial cleansers, facial scrubs… Owned by: Michael Feldenkrais Serial Number: 86843184
https://trademarks.justia.com/868/43/hip-86843184.html
PRESS RELEASES
February 3, 2021
Media company 4CableTV International Inc (OTC:CATV) has qualified for Pink Current Information status on OTCMarkets.com. To be eligible, 4Cable must subscribe to the OTC Disclosure & News Service and submit its disclosures in accordance with OTC Market filings and OTC Markets' Pink Basic Disclosure Guidelines. 4Cable was unable to file before renewing its OTC registration or status. Once the reinstatement is completed, the company will submit its disclosures. Its financial reports will be reachable on the company’s website once it’s back and running, which should be around February 5, 2021
Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.benzinga.com/amp/content/19469425
January 29, 2021
4Cable TV International, Inc. (OTC: CATV) (the "Company") announces today that it hired Karma Snack Agency as their Marketing Firm. While working diligently on the accounting to file and be current, the company is working hard to ensure revenues for the company grow exponentially.
Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-signs-deal-with-karma-snack-agency-as-their-marketing-firm-301218096.html
January 19, 2021
First, the company has hired Mark Slaugh. Mark Slaugh is the CEO and founder of iComply; the oldest Cannabis Compliance Company in the United States. The second hire is Arthur A. Estopinan, a veteran player in the United States House of Representatives. Effective January 25, 2021 both individuals begin working for the company assisting 4Cable TV International to vet out the Mergers and Acquisitions and assist in the process of growing the company globally in the Cannabis Industry.
Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-announces-the-hiring-of-two-board-of-advisors-301210558.html
Mark Slaugh
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-slaugh-26713221
https://mogreenway.com/2020/12/21/qa-with-mark-slaugh/
Arthur A. Estopinan
https://www.linkedin.com/in/art-estopinan-61359139
http://hispanicpolicygroup.com/arthur-a-estopinan/
January 8, 2021
4Cable TV International, Inc. (OTC: CATV) (the "Company") is excited to announce that it is estimating the filing of its financial statement and disclosures in the coming weeks. Working diligently with the accounting department, the company strives to provide true transparency to shareholders.
Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-inc-announces-certain-incoming-financials-filings-are-imminent-301203235.html
January 4, 2021
4Cable TV International, Inc. (OTC: CATV) (the "Company") announced today that it completed the acquisition of several companies devoted to support a global CBD services and products company. Effective December 31, 2020, the Company acquired 100% of the equity interests of each of Health Care and Wellness Clinics of America, LLC ("HCWCOA"), and Corporation Clinic, LLC ("Corporation Clinic")
Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-inc-announces-acquisition-of-healthcare-and-wellness-clinics-of-america-llc-and-corporation-clinic-llc-as-the-retail-arms-and-distribution-of-cbd-based-products-301200032.html
December 28, 2020
A group oriented to become a leader in CBD based products markets, today announced they have signed a Letter of Intent (the "LOI") devoted to join forces to control one of the first steps in becoming an integrated hemp company. Signatories to the letter of intent include CIGN, LLC, and 4Cable TV International, Inc. (OTC: CATV). 4Cable will take over to operate as the agricultural grower of hemp. This is the first step in the chain for CBD based products to be manufactured by 4Cable TV International, Inc., through its future subsidiaries, which are expected to join the group in any foreseeable future, and function as a global company in the CBD business. The letter signals the intention of the signatories to use their best efforts to work together in establishing an appealing group of business units that will accomplish the expectation of a fast-growing market.
Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-inc-signs-letter-of-intent-to-acquire-cign-llc-to-grow-hemp-301198599.html
December 11, 2020
Jeff Wildermuth, CEO of 4Cable TV International, Inc. (OTC PINK: CATV) announced today that the Company is in the process of finalizing the details in regards to the forward acquisition of a CBD and Hemp Company. The name of the acquired company will be revealed upon final consummation of the deal.
In preparation for the transition, the Company has accepted the resignation of current CEO Jeff Wildermuth, and has appointed Michael Feldenkrais as the new CEO and President of the Company.
Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-inc-announces-new-ceo-and-near-completion-of-acquisition-of-cbd--hemp-company-301191242.html
October 19, 2020
The Company is also still exploring a forward acquisition of a Medical Marijuana and Hemp Company. As was recently announced, Company is still considering two different CBD companies and expects to make its final decision in the upcoming weeks.
Source: https://marketwirenews.com/news-releases/4cable-tv-international-inc-announces-that-it-is-exp-6718975385344526.html

They're finalizing the acquisition of CIGN Farms in FL. They grow and distribute hemp and hemp seeds for CBD products, etc. Seems like a good buy at this point (.0075 at time of posting) with some promising news and catalysts coming up.
From a summary c/o iHub user Calvin Hobbes:
$CATV Summary
Michael Feldenkrais NEW CEO Of public trading company $CATV accomplished this
His largest accomplishment came when he organized several mergers and acquisitions with a Canadian publicly traded company Amaya Gaming that resulted in the increase of its market cap from 50 million dollars to 4.9 billion dollars in less than 2 years.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2014/06/12/amaya-gaming-in-deal-to-buy-pokerstars-for-4-9-billion/?sh=3286a4104469
Amaya Gaming In Deal To Buy PokerStars For $4.9 Billion
One of the most high-stakes, controversial and intriguing business stories in the history of the modern gambling industry is heading toward its conclusion. PokerStars, the world’s biggest online poker company, has agreed to sell itself for $4.9 billion to Amaya Gaming, a small publicly-traded Canadian supplier of gambling equipment.
NEW CEO Since Dec 18th 2020
Since he has been CEO of $CATV https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/CATV/news/story?e&id=1770145

1. Has acquired 3 new revenue producing companies in 3 weeks.
2. LOI for CIGN a 4th revenue producing company (He is already CEO of CIGN)
3. Jan 8th PR saying Filings Imminent and are excited to announce that it is estimating the filing of its financial statement and disclosures in the coming weeks.. (He is a lawyer)

4Cable TV International, Inc. (OTC: CATV) is determined to become a fully integrated Global CBD/Hemp business from seed to sale. Farming is where it all starts, and distribution is where it all goes. Today 4Cable TV, International, Inc. moves one of its chess pieces by announcing it is acquiring CIGN, LLC. As a result of the acquisition, revenues for 2021 are expected to be in the millions of dollars.
Experience: Over 20 Years of Professional Experience:
Michael, is a well recognized attorney that has appeared on all major Spanish and English television networks. Michael manages a successful media, lead generation, gaming and marketing portfolio.
CANNABIS
In the Cannabis space, Mr. Feldenkrais has been very active for the last 6 years from intellectual property, cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, and retail. (Seed to Sale). Starting his Cannabis career, he focused on acquiring intellectual property in Israel to deploying such in the United States, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. In recent years he built a franchise company to open 22 Medical Clinics recommending the use of Cannabis and sold a total of 50 franchised locations in less than one year.
He then concentrated his efforts in cultivating Cannabis in Florida out of a state-of-the-art Cravo greenhouse in Homestead for commercial and research purposes under the auspices of the University of Florida.
ENTREPRENEUR
Early in his career, he built two of the largest Prepaid Cellular Phone Card distribution companies in Colombia and Venezuela, wherein he deployed a distribution model using informal workers and converting them into main-stream employees giving jobs to over 14,500 people.
Media and Corporate Related Experience: In 2008 he developed a success based marketing system. He has proven expertise in the operations, management and procedure implementation of media campaigns, lead generation software, and lead analytics. He expanded the companies business into the gaming category closing transactions in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The company has relationships with television production companies, casino companies, motion pictures companies and more. Using Success Based Marketing, he guided the company and all its aspects from creating the proprietary lead software, harnessing lead analytic's for re-marketing, to purchasing media for lead creation, and to the creative production of the media campaigns that would generate the most response for the money spent.
Lawyer Experience: Respected and trusted television spokesperson. All the major television stations have contacted Michael to speak on legal issues. He has appeared regularly in television and radio, both nationally and internationally as both a consultant and a host. Has produced several television shows and has appeared regularly on TV stations like Univision, NBC, and Telemundo.
In 1998, Michael working closely with Congress was instrumental in the writing of a new law known as "NACARA" Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act. The law grants an immigration remedy to more than 500,000 immigrants.
Specialties: Business Development and Management / Media Production and Distribution / Mergers and Acquisitions / Corporate, International, and Immigration Law
More:$CATV Our New CEO Comes Packing Trademarks
Facial skin care preparations infused with hemp, namely, makeup and eye makeup removers, facial cleansers, facial scrubs… Owned by: Michael Feldenkrais Serial Number: 86843184 https://trademarks.justia.com/868/43/hip-86843184.html
Dec. 18/2020 UPDATE
Port St. Lucie, FL -- December 18, 2020 -- InvestorsHub NewsWire -- 4CABLE TV International, Inc. ("4CABLE TV INTERNATIONAL, INC." or the "Company") (OTC: CATV) last week we announced the hiring of a new CEO and President, Michael Feldenkrais. Mr. Feldenkrais' employment with 4CATV INTERNATIONAL, INC. has commenced. https://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=83941526
Dec. 11/2020 UPDATE4Cable TV International, Inc. Announces New CEO and Near Completion of Acquisition of CBD & Hemp CompanyPORT ST. LUCIE, Fla., Dec. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Jeff Wildermuth, CEO of 4Cable TV International, Inc. (OTC PINK: CATV) announced today that the Company is in the process of finalizing the details in regards to the forward acquisition of a CBD and Hemp Company. The name of the acquired company will be revealed upon final consummation of the deal.In preparation for the transition, the Company has accepted the resignation of current CEO Jeff Wildermuth, and has appointed Michael Feldenkrais as the new CEO and President of the Company.

Team has been involved in a substantial number of the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming industries’ most significant merger and acquisition transactions, holding key positions at, and transacting with Scientific Games Corp, Inspired Gaming Group, FOX Bets, Ocean Casino Resort, Resorts International Holdings, PokerStars, DraftKings, Mohegan Sun, Caesars Entertainment Corporation, Harrah’s Entertainment, Tropicana Entertainment, Inc., TSG/Sky Betting & Gaming, Facebook, Inc, Wynn Resorts, Dubai World/MGM Resorts
Here's all the Bios. These guys are stellar! TEKK closed at $10.30 today. Still cheap!
If you don't like to read... you don't like to make money!!!!
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Matthew Davey — Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Davey has over 25 years of experience within the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming ecosystems, as well as experience in the public sector. He is an experienced public company executive officer and board member. He has served in executive management positions across the gaming technology arena. Over the course of Mr. Davey’s career, he oversaw more than ten mergers and acquisitions and over $1.2 billion in debt and equity capital raised to support the companies he has led.
Most recently, Mr. Davey was Chief Executive Officer of SG Digital, the Digital Division of Scientific Games Corp. (“Scientific Games”) (Nasdaq: SGMS). SG Digital was established following the purchase by Scientific Games of NYX Gaming Group Limited (“NYX”) (formerly TSXV: NYX), where Mr. Davey served as Chief Executive Officer and Director. The NYX acquisition provided Scientific Games with a vehicle to significantly accelerate the scale and breadth of its existing digital gaming business, including the strategic expansion into sports betting. In his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of NYX, Mr. Davey developed and implemented a corporate strategy that generated strong revenue growth. Mr. Davey shaped company strategy to focus on digital gaming supplier platforms and content that provided various gaming operators with the underlying gaming and sports betting systems for their online gaming business. In 2014, Mr. Davey oversaw the initial public offering of NYX, and his experience in the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming industries helped NYX recognize momentum as a public company. After the public offering, from 2014 to 2018, Mr. Davey oversaw seven acquisitions which helped establish NYX as one of the fastest growing global B2B real-money digital gaming and sports betting platforms. These acquisitions included:
• OpenBet: In 2016, NYX completed the $385 million acquisition of OpenBet. This was one of the more complex and transformative acquisitions that Mr. Davey oversaw at NYX. Through securing co-investments from William Hill (LSE: WMH), Sky Betting & Gaming and The Stars Group (formerly Nasdaq: TSG, TSX: TSGI), Mr. Davey was able to get the acquisition from Vitruvian Partners completed successfully, winning the deal against much larger and well capitalized competitors. By combining two established and proven B2B betting and gaming suppliers, NYX was well positioned to provide customers with exciting player-driven solutions across all major product verticals and distribution channels. This allowed NYX to become the leading B2B omni-channel sportsbook platform in the market and the supplier to over 300 gaming operators globally with an extensive library of desktop and mobile game titles, including more than 700 on NYX platforms and more than 2,000 on the OpenBet platform.
• Cryptologic/Chartwell: In 2015, NYX completed the $119 million acquisition of Cryptologic and Chartwell. The acquisition provided NYX with more than 400 titles of additional leading gaming content, a broader customer base, and direct exposure to PokerStars and Intercasino, part of the Gamesys Group (LSE: GYS) — two of the world’s largest online casino offerings.
• OnGame: In 2014, NYX completed the distressed acquisition of OnGame, a premier poker content, platform and service provider. This acquisition provided NYX with one of the best poker products in the industry, access to several regulated jurisdictions, and a valuable talent pool that was instrumental in the growth of NYX. The addition of OnGame further established a path for NYX to continue its growth in both European and U.S. markets.
These acquisitions, together with meaningful organic growth, increased NYX’s revenue from $24 million in 2014 to $184 million annualized in 2017. During that time, Mr. Davey helped build NYX to have over 200 customers in the global gaming industry and a team of 1,000 employees. Mr. Davey’s success at NYX ultimately led to its sale to Scientific Games for $631 million in 2018.
Mr. Davey joined Next Gen Gaming, the predecessor to NYX, in 2000 as the Vice President of Technology, was appointed as Executive Director in 2003 and named Chief Executive Officer in 2005. Prior to that, he was the Senior Consultant for Access Systems, a company that specializes in the provision of back-end software for licensed online casinos. Prior to joining Access, Mr. Davey worked for the Northern Territory Government specializing in matters pertaining to the internet and e-commerce along with roles in the Department of Racing and Gaming. Mr. Davey received a Bachelor of Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Northern Territory University, Australia (also known as Charles Darwin University).
Robin Chhabra — President
Mr. Chhabra has been at the forefront of corporate acquisition activity within the digital gaming landscape for over a decade. His prior experience includes leading corporate strategy, M&A, and business development at two of the global leaders in the digital gaming industry, The Stars Group (“TSG”) and William Hill, and a leading supplier, Inspired Gaming Group (Nasdaq: INSE). Mr. Chhabra served on the Group Executive Committees of each of these companies. From 2017 to May 2020, Mr. Chhabra served as Chief Corporate Development Officer at TSG and, from 2019 to August 2020, he also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Fox Bet, a leading U.S. online gaming business which is the product of a landmark partnership between TSG and FOX Sports, a transaction which he led. During that period, Mr. Chhabra led several transactions which transformed TSG into the largest publicly listed online gambling operator in the world by both revenue and market capitalization and one of the most diversified from a product and geographic perspective with revenues of over $2.5 billion. Mr. Chhabra’s M&A experience is extensive and covers multiple global geographies across the digital gaming value chain and includes the following:
• TSG/Flutter Entertainment Merger: In 2019, Mr. Chhabra led the TSG M&A team that was responsible for TSG’s $12.2 billion merger with Flutter Entertainment (LSE: FLTR). The merger between TSG and Flutter Entertainment is the largest transaction in the digital gaming industry to date. The combination created the largest publicly listed online gaming company with approximately 13 million active customers and leading product offerings, which include sports betting, online casino, fantasy sports and poker. The combined entity includes some of the world’s most iconic digital gaming brands such as Fanduel, Fox Bet, Sky Bet, PaddyPower, Betfair, PokerStars and SportsBet. TSG/Flutter Entertainment is one of the most geographically diverse digital gaming and media companies with leading positions in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Germany and Georgia.
• TSG/Sky Betting and Gaming (“SBG”): In 2018, Mr. Chhabra led the acquisition of SBG from CVC Capital Partners and Sky plc, Europe’s largest media company, in a transaction valued at $4.7 billion. At the time of the acquisition SBG was the largest mobile gambling operator in the United Kingdom and one of the fastest growing of the major operators having doubled its online market share in three years. The acquisition of SBG provided TSG with (a) greater revenue diversification, significantly enhanced expertise and exposure to sports betting just ahead of the judicial overturn of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) by the U.S. Supreme Court, (b) a leading position within the United Kingdom, the world’s largest regulated online gaming market, (c) improved products and technology as a result of the addition of SBG’s innovative casino and sports book offerings and a portfolio of popular mobile apps, and (d) expertise in deeply integrating sports betting with leading sports media companies, positioning TSG to create more engaging content, deliver faster growth and decrease customer acquisition costs.
• William Hill (LSE: WMH): At William Hill, from 2010 to 2017, Mr. Chhabra served as Group Director of Strategy and Corporate Development where he led several transactions which contributed to William Hill’s transformation from a land-based gambling operator in the United Kingdom to a leading online-led international business. Mr. Chhabra led William Hill’s entry into the U.S. sports betting and online lottery markets with the acquisition of four businesses, including the simultaneous acquisitions of three U.S. sportsbooks, Cal Neva, American Wagering and Brandywine Bookmaking, in 2011 for an aggregate purchase price of $55 million. These businesses ultimately led William Hill to achieve a leading position in the U.S. sports betting market with a market share of 24% in 2019. Additionally, Mr. Chhabra played a key role in structuring William Hill’s successful joint venture with PlayTech Plc (LSE: PTEC) in 2008. The combined entity created one of the largest online gambling businesses in Europe at the time of its formation and led to William Hill’s buyout of Playtech’s interest for $637 million in 2013. Prior to the transaction, William Hill had struggled in its attempt to establish a strong online gaming platform and a meaningful presence outside the United Kingdom.
Mr. Chhabra has also successfully completed four transactions worth over $1.2 billion in Australia, the world’s second largest regulated online gambling market, and various partnerships in Asia. Additionally, he completed several technology and media related transactions, including William Hill’s investment in NYX, where he worked with Mr. Davey on NYX’s transformational acquisition of OpenBet.
Prior to working in the gaming sector, Mr. Chhabra was an equities analyst and a management consultant. Mr. Chhabra received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Eric Matejevich — Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Matejevich is a seasoned gaming executive with extensive experience in both the online gaming and traditional casino industries. From February to August 2019, he served as Trustee and Interim-Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Casino Resort (“Ocean”) (formerly Revel Casino, which had a construction cost of $2.4 billion) in Atlantic City, where he successfully led the management team through an ownership change and operational turnaround effort. Over the course of seven months, Mr. Matejevich managed to reduce the property’s weekly cash burn of $1.5 million to an annualized cash flow run rate in excess of $20 million.
Prior to Ocean, from 2016 to 2018, Mr. Matejevich served as the Chief Financial Officer of NYX. At NYX, he focused his efforts on integrating the company’s many acquisitions and multiple debt refinancings to simplify its capital structure and provided liquidity for growth initiatives. Additionally, Mr. Matejevich was instrumental to the executive team that sold NYX to Scientific Games for $631 million.
Prior to NYX, from 2004 to 2014, Mr. Matejevich was the Chief Financial Officer of Resorts International Holdings and later, from 2011, also the Chief Operating Officer of the Atlantic Club Casino, a property under the Resorts International Holdings umbrella — a Colony Capital (NYSE: CLNY) entity. As Chief Financial Officer, he provided managerial oversight for all finance functions for a six-property casino company with annual gaming revenue exceeding $1.3 billion, 10,000 gaming positions, 7,000 hotel rooms and over 11,000 staff members during his tenure. Mr. Matejevich led the transition effort to integrate a four-casino, $1.3 billion acquisition from Harrah’s Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment (Nasdaq: CZR). As Chief Operating Officer of Atlantic Club, he lobbied for and was successful in obtaining the first internet gaming legislation passed in the United States. The Atlantic Club was the sole New Jersey casino proponent of the legislation.
Prior to serving in various gaming positions, Mr. Matejevich was a Vice President of High Yield Research for Merrill Lynch, where he managed the corporate bond research effort for the gaming and leisure sectors and marketed high yield and other debt transactions totaling $4.8 billion. Mr. Matejevich received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from The College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.
Our Board of Directors
Morris Bailey — Chairman
Over the past 10 years, Mr. Bailey has been a leader in turning around Atlantic City, as well as being among the first gaming executives to embrace online gaming and sports betting in the United States. In his efforts, Mr. Bailey partnered with two of the largest digital gaming companies in the world, PokerStars, part of the Stars Group, and DraftKings (Nasdaq: DKNG). In 2010, Mr. Bailey bought Resorts Atlantic City (“Resorts”) and initiated a comprehensive renovation which allowed for the property to be rebranded and repositioned. In 2012, Mr. Bailey signed an agreement with Mohegan Sun to manage the day-to-day operations of the casino. In addition to Mohegan Sun’s operational expertise and ability to reduce costs via economies of scale, Resorts gained access to their robust customer database. Soon thereafter, Mr. Bailey and his team focused on bringing online gaming to the property. In 2015, Resorts established a platform to engage in online gaming by partnering with PokerStars, now part of the $24 billion Flutter Entertainment, PLC (LSE: FLTR), to operate an online poker room in Atlantic City. In 2018, Resorts announced deals with DraftKings and SBTech to open a sportsbook on-property and online. For 2020 year-to-date, Resorts has performed in the top quartile in internet gross gaming revenue in New Jersey. Mr. Bailey’s efforts in New Jersey helped set the framework for expansion of online sports and gaming throughout the United States.
In addition to his gaming interests, Mr. Bailey has over 50 years of experience in all facets of real estate development, asset M&A, capital markets and operations and is the founder, Chief Executive Officer and Principal of JEMB Realty, a leading real estate development, investment and management organization. Mr. Bailey has notable investment experience within the energy, finance and telecommunications sectors through investments in the Astoria Energy Plant, Basis Investment Group and Xentris Wireless.
Tony Rodio — Director Nominee
Mr. Rodio has nearly four decades of experience in the gaming industry. Most recently, Mr. Rodio served as the Chief Executive Officer and director of Caesars Entertainment Corporation (“Caesars”) (Nasdaq: CZR), one of the world’s most diversified casino-entertainment providers and the most geographically diverse U.S. casino-entertainment company, from April 2019 until its acquisition by Eldorado Resorts, Inc. in July 2020. Mr. Rodio led Caesars through its $17.3 billion merger with Eldorado Resorts, one of the largest transactions in the gaming industry to date. Additionally, Mr. Rodio was instrumental to Caesars’ expansion into the digital gaming industry and oversaw the implementation of new digital segments such as its Scientific Games powered retail sportsbook solution that now operates in various states throughout the U.S. From October 2018 to May 2019, Mr. Rodio served as Chief Executive Officer of Affinity Gaming. Prior to Affinity Gaming, he served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Tropicana Entertainment, Inc. (“Tropicana”) for over seven years, where he was responsible for the operation of eight casino properties in seven different jurisdictions. During his time at Tropicana, Mr. Rodio oversaw a period of unprecedented growth at the company, improving overall financial results with net revenue that increased more than 50% driven by both operational improvements and expansion across regional markets. Mr. Rodio led major capital projects, including the complete renovation of Tropicana Atlantic City and Tropicana’s move to land-based operations in Evansville, Indiana. Each of these initiatives, among others, generated substantial value for Tropicana. Ultimately, Mr. Rodio’s efforts at Tropicana led to its sale to Eldorado Resorts in 2018 for $1.85 billion. Prior to Tropicana, Mr. Rodio held a succession of executive positions in Atlantic City for casino brands, including Trump Marina Hotel Casino, Harrah’s Entertainment (predecessor to Caesars), the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort and Penn National Gaming. He has also served as a director of several professional and charitable organizations, including Atlantic City Alliance, United Way of Atlantic County, the Casino Associations of New Jersey and Indiana, AtlantiCare Charitable Foundation and the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming Hospitality & Tourism. Mr. Rodio brings extensive knowledge of and experience in the gaming industry, operational expertise, and a demonstrated ability to effectively design and implement company strategy. Mr. Rodio received a Bachelor of Science from Rider University and a Master of Business Administration from Monmouth University.
Marlon Goldstein — Director Nominee
Mr. Goldstein is a licensed attorney with nearly 20 years of experience in the gaming space. He joined The Stars Group (Nasdaq: TSG)(TSX: TSGI) in January 2014 as its Executive Vice-President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary until his retirement from the company in July 2020 following the merger of TSG with Flutter Entertainment, PLC (LSE: FLTR). Mr. Goldstein also previously served as the Executive Vice-President, Corporate Development and General Counsel of TSG. Mr. Goldstein was also the senior TSG executive based in the United States and was one of the primary architects of TSG’s strategic vision for its U.S.-facing business. During his tenure, TSG grew from an approximately $500 million market-cap company to an approximately $7 billion market-cap company through a combination of organic growth and strategic mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Goldstein participated in numerous M&A transactions and capital markets offerings at TSG, including several transformational transactions in the digital gaming industry. Notable transactions in which Mr. Goldstein was involved include:
• TSG/Flutter Merger: In 2019, TSG merged with Flutter for a $12.2 billion transaction value, the largest transaction in the digital gaming industry to date.
• TSG/Fox Bet Partnership: In 2019, TSG entered into a partnership with FOX Sports to create FOX Bet in the U.S., a leading U.S. online gaming business. Wall Street Research estimates an approximate $1.1 billion valuation for Fox Bet post-partnership with The Stars Group.
• TSG/Sky Betting & Gaming: In 2018, TSG acquired Sky Betting & Gaming, the largest mobile gambling operator in the United Kingdom at the time, for $4.7 billion.
• TSG/CrownBet and William Hill: In 2018, TSG simultaneously acquired CrownBet and William Hill, two Australian operators, for a total of $621 million in a multi-part transaction.
• TSG/PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker: In 2014, TSG acquired The Rational Group, which operated PokerStars and Full Tilt and was the world’s largest poker business, for $4.9 billion.
Through his ability to legally structure large and complex transactions, Mr. Goldstein was integral to TSG’s vision of becoming a full-service online gaming company. Additionally, he assisted in structuring TSG’s capital markets activity, which generated liquidity for acquisitions and strengthened its balance sheet.
Prior to joining TSG, Mr. Goldstein was a principal shareholder in the corporate and securities practice at the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig P.A., where he practiced for almost 13 years. Mr. Goldstein’s practice focused on corporate and securities matters, including mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, and financing transactions. Additionally, Mr. Goldstein was the founder and co-chair of the firm’s Gaming Practice, a multi-disciplinary team of attorneys representing owners, operators and developers of gaming facilities, manufacturers and suppliers of gaming devices, investment banks and lenders in financing transactions, and Indian tribes in the development and financing of gaming facilities.
Mr. Goldstein brings experience and insight that we believe will be valuable to a potential initial business combination target business. Mr. Goldstein received a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from Emory University and a Juris Doctorate with highest honors from the University of Florida, College of Law.
Sean Ryan — Director Nominee
Mr. Ryan is a digital media and technology operator with extensive global experience in online payments, e-commerce, marketplaces, mobile ad networks, digital games, enterprise collaboration platforms, blockchain, real money gaming and online music. Since 2014, Mr. Ryan has been serving as Vice President of Business Platform Partnerships at Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”) (Nasdaq: FB), where he leads a more than 500 person global organization that manages the Payments, Commerce, Novi/Blockhain, Workplace and Audience Network businesses. Prior to his current role, Mr. Ryan was hired in 2011 as the Director of Games Partnerships to lead and grow the global Games business at Facebook. While the Director of Games Partnerships, Mr. Ryan focused on re-shaping Facebook’s games and monetization strategies to derive more value for Facebook, its users and its partners, including the addition of a Real Money Gaming offering in regulated markets. Mr. Ryan’s team helped accelerate a major trend in engagement through cross-platform games and therefore the opportunity to increase users through establishing games on multiple platforms. Prior to joining Facebook, Mr. Ryan created the new social and mobile games division at News Corp, an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by Rupert Murdoch. While at News Corp, Mr. Ryan led the acquisition of Making Fun, a San Francisco social-game start-up, that created News Corp’s games publishing division.
Before joining News Corp., Mr. Ryan founded multiple digital businesses such as Twofish, Meez, Open Wager and SingShot Media. Mr. Ryan co-founded Twofish in 2009, a virtual goods and services platform that provided developers with data analytics and insights for individual application’s digital economies. Twofish was later sold to online payments provider Live Gamer, where Mr. Ryan served on the board of directors. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Ryan founded and led Meez.com, a social entertainment service combining avatars, web games and virtual worlds. The white label social casino gaming company Open Wager was spun out of Meez and was later sold to VGW Holdings, Mr. Ryan also co-founded SingShot Media, an online karaoke community, which was sold to Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: EA) and merged into its Sims division.
We believe Mr. Ryan’s experience will be valuable to a potential initial business combination target and would provide an expanded perspective on the digital gaming landscape. Mr. Ryan received a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Tom Roche — Director Nominee
Mr. Roche has more than 40 years of experience in the gaming industry as a regulator, advisor and independent auditor. Mr. Roche joined Ernst & Young (“EY”) as a partner in 2003 and opened its Las Vegas office. He was subsequently appointed as the Office Managing Partner and Global Gaming Industry Market Leader. In 2016, Mr. Roche relocated to the EY Hong Kong office to supervise the expansion of the EY Global Gaming Industry practice in the Asia Pacific region. Mr. Roche has been integral to numerous transactions that have shaped the current gaming landscape, including:
• Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN) initial public offering: Mr. Roche was the lead partner on Wynn Resort’s initial public offering, which raised $450 million in 2002.
• Harrah’s Entertainment/Apollo Management Group & Texas Pacific Group: Mr. Roche headed the regulatory advisory services on the buyout of Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s largest casino company at the time, for $17.1 billion.
• Dubai World/MGM Resorts: Mr. Roche headed the regulatory and due diligence advisory services to Dubai World in its approximately $5.1 billion investment in MGM. Dubai World bought 28.4 million MGM shares, or 9.5 percent of the casino operator, for $2.4 billion. It then invested $2.7 billion to acquire a 50% stake in MGM’s CityCenter Project, a $7.4 billion 76-acre Las Vegas development of hotels, condos and retail outlets.
• MGM Growth Properties (NYSE: MGP) initial public offering: Mr. Roche provided tax and structural transaction services to MGM Resorts in the creation of MGM Growth Properties, a publicly traded REIT engaged in the acquisition, ownership and leasing of large-scale destination entertainment and leisure resorts. MGM Growth Properties raised $1.05 billion in its 2016 initial public offering.
Mr. Roche also directed EY advisory services to boards and management teams for profit improvement and technology related initiatives. In addition, Mr. Roche provided advisory support to the American Gaming Association on several research projects, including those specifically related to sports betting, the revocation of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) and anti-money laundering best practices in the gaming industry. Equally, he has assisted government agencies in numerous international locations with enhancing their regulatory approach to governing the industry especially in the online gambling sector.
Prior to joining Ernst & Young, Mr. Roche served as Deloitte’s National Gaming Industry Leader and as the co-head of Andersen’s Gaming Industry Practice in Las Vegas. In 1989, Mr. Roche was appointed by then Governor of the State of Nevada, Robert Miller, to serve as one of three members of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board for a four-year term, where he was directly responsible for the Audit and New Games Lab Divisions. As a board member, he spent a substantial amount of time assisting global jurisdiction regulators enact gaming legislation in the design of their regulatory structure. During his career, Roche has been involved in numerous public and private offerings of equity and debt securities. His background includes providing casino regulatory consulting services to casino licensees and to federal and state agencies including the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Nevada State Gaming Control Board, and industry associations such as the Nevada Resort Association and the American Gaming Association.
We believe Mr. Roche’s highly regarded reputation as a gaming auditor and advisor in the gaming industry will be valuable for us and a potential business combination target. Mr. Roche is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is licensed by the Nevada State Board of Accountancy and Mississippi State Board of Public Accountancy. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Southern California.

The owners of the Slot Ocean Bar in Miami have decided to open a casino slot machine in the lobby of the bar. This is a very interesting decision as it opens up a door for other gambling opportunities in the area. You may have noticed that the Florida real estate market has taken a downturn and has dropped to all time lows, which means that there is an increased possibility for business owners to increase their business with gambling options. This opens up the door for online casinos and online slot machines. What is interesting about this new slot machine business opportunity is that the owners of the Slot Ocean are also responsible for all advertising, which will include an online website.
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When you play at a slot machine you are playing for credits or payouts. These credits can either be made to enter into a real slot game or just for playing the slots themselves. There are some games that you can only play for credits, but these games are the ones where you do not get any cash from winning. This is the opposite of payouts. When you win a slot machine game you get cash from it and you pay out your winnings.
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The slot machine business is not only restricted to casinos but is also used by restaurants and other venues. If you go to an airport or hotel in Miami and you see that the slot machine games have been installed, you may assume that it is a resort giving out prizes to its patrons. This is because slot machines are considered to be gambling and therefore the laws that pertain to gambling have been placed on the airways, so that if you are playing on the air you are breaking one of the laws and can be arrested for it.
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If you decide to gamble with slot machines, then you need to realize that you could lose a lot of money. Even if you win a slot machine, you could lose more money if you do not know what you are doing. Many people are unaware of the fact that when you play slot machines you are dealing with chance and not skill. When you place your bet and pull the handle, the ball falls into the slot and then it is up to you to pull the handle again and the ball will fall in the slot once again. This is how slot machines work.
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It is important to know that this means that you should never make a bet while you are at a slot machine because chances are that you will just lose more money. If you are playing with slot machines in an internet casino, then you need to do a little extra work and study the slots before placing your bets. As said earlier, slot machines are dealt by the same people over again, so slot machines tend to get a bad reputation. The truth is that you need to play slot machines in order to win money.
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This means that you need to make sure that you have learned everything there is to know about the slot machine and you do not trust everyone who comes along to play with the slot machine. There are some things you can do to increase your odds of winning. For example, if you know that there is a high possibility that a particular slot machine will payout a lot of money, then you should play it whenever possible. These tips are only a few of the many tips you will find in a slot machine guide.

Hello everyone. A few months ago, I posted an extensive write up on the DeOrr Kunz case and later the Asha Degree case with several other missing people’s cases sprinkled in between, which many readers seemed to enjoy. Those can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/fcmvmz/extensive_summary_regarding_the_disappearance_of/
Today, I wanted to do a similar long form write up but this time, I wanted to switch gears and talk about Ridgway and his victims.
Terms used
The scene- A term used by Bundy and LE to describe the people with high risk lifestyles those who are homeless, sex workers, exotic dancers, drug users, hitchhikers, and others who are down and out
The Strip- An area of Pacific Highway South near the airport in extreme south Seattle (no longer Seattle) known for the scene. Most GRK victims were last seen in this area.
The Avenue- An area of extreme north Seattle along Aurora Avenue North known for the scene. A handful of women disappeared from this area.
Rainier Avenue and Central District- Neighborhoods in south Seattle near the strip. Usually regarded as cheaper places to live. A handful of women disappeared from here.
The camp- An area of downtown Portland known for prostitution
Dating- A term used to literature to refer to soliciting prostitutes. Ridgway used this term as did many sex workers. I use this term below as that is what is described in GRK literature. I don’t use it dull what was happening in these exchanges.
Boyfriend or protector- Many of the women in this case had boyfriends or protectors who were actually pimps. Which is why some of these women had the same “boyfriends.” If the men who were involved were not believed to be pimps, I tried to note that.
Introduction
Living in the Pacific Northwest everyone you meet seems to have had a close encounter with a notorious criminal. I know a woman who Bundy followed on April 17th 1974 in Ellensburg, Washington before he abducted Susan Rancourt. I talked to a barber once who told me he cut Ridgway’s hair and used to watch Constance Naon (one of Ridgway’s victims) take dates to her place across the street in the Rainier area. In college I used to shop at a Safeway store that Bundy worked at. Some days it seems like everyone I talk to has the same stories, close encounters, and bizarre brushes with some of the worst men in America. This is the story of one of those men, Gary Leon Ridgway.
I believe that Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, was a much more prolific predator than most people online seem to think and I wanted discuss these crimes because his victims are often dismissed while they deserve to be remembered.
In the true crime community, there is a near reverence for Ted Bundy. On the other hand, Ridgway is considered boring and banal. These feelings of course are perpetrated Bob Keppel’s book, Riverman; Ted Bundy and I hunt for the Green River Killer which contains large swathes of interviews from an incarcerated Ted Bundy. King County authorities interviewed Bundy on Florida’s death row in hopes of getting confessions out of him during the 1980s. Instead Bundy wanted to talk about the new murderer plaguing his home state, the Green River Killer. In his interviews, Bundy provides interesting insight into the mind a killer and many of his predictions about the “Riverman” turned out to be true. Naturally, some of his predictions were also false. Bundy, the master manipulator, was able create a narrative about Ridgway and his victims which has bled into the public consciousness. The descriptions of Ridgway’s crimes have been controlled by Ted Bundy’s opinions and his apparent distaste for Ridgway. In discussions on this case I often see people say things like “Ridgway isn’t interesting to me because his victims were high risk” or “Ridgway was dumb, he was so lucky he wasn’t caught.” In my opinion this is unfair to victims of the Green River Killer – in addition to being false. Of course, Bundy is not the only reason people say these things but his opinions have shaped this case. At the end of the day, Bundy should not have a say in how these crimes are perceived.
Most importantly, the victims of these men (and other killers) are not entertainment, these are real people who lives were stolen and all of their stories deserve to be told, even if the man who killed them is considered by some to be “uninteresting.”
Additionally, no one wants to compare to Bundy and Ridgway but I believe the men have more similarities than Bundy wanted people to believe. Bundy hated being compared to the Riverman and I think it is because Bundy knew that the Riverman was more prolific than Bundy could ever be. Bundy’s ego led him to adopt a dismissive attitude towards this crime spree and he always bristled when compared to the “Riverman” and unfortunately these ideas have become gospel. These assumptions aside, I think Ridgway was a much more prolific killer than anyone will ever be able to prove.
There are so many misconceptions about Gary Ridgway that I want to discuss. People say that Ridgway was stupid, he was free to kill as long as he did because no one cared, and finally that he only was able to be “get away with it” because all of his victims were sex workers. Not only are these ideas false, these misconceptions invalidate the stories of Ridgway’s victims.
Intelligence
The first thing I think is often talked about when discussing Ridgway was his intelligence or lack thereof. While it is true that IQ tests showed that Ridgway hovered on the line between impaired and typical, and he apparently had a learning disability that affected his school performance, I will always argue that Ridgway was no dummy. I have worked with the disabled population for several years. That experience taught me that IQ is a bunk way to measure intelligence. Some of my acquaintances have higher IQ scores than Ridgway’s 80, but struggle to keep down jobs or lack social skills. On the other hand, people I have worked with lower IQs (62-80) than that have attended 2-year college, kept down jobs, married, and had families. IQ in and of itself is poor determinate of intelligence. In my experience, IQ seems to measure processing speed, not intelligence. I am not sure if this 100% scientifically accurate, it is just my experience but I think it is worth noting. All that to say, I don’t think Ridgway was nearly as impaired as many armchair detectives make him out to be. The women he fooled were street smart and don’t deserve less attention simply because they were fooled by a “dumb” predator. Perpetrating this myth does a disservice to Ridgway’s victims. I am not arguing that Ridgway was a criminal mastermind of above average intelligence, that is simply not true. I am simply trying to demonstrate that Ridgway cold and calculating, not blundering and impaired.
Forensic Counter Measures
Ridgway’s intelligence is also evidenced by his crime spree and the forensic countermeasures he employed. Many online sleuths have used this information to show Ridgway’s lack of intelligence, but I would argue that his forensic counter measures actually worked. The Riverman would put used gum, beer cans, and cigarette butts near his body dumping grounds. He also put airport and hotel pamphlets near the bodies to make law enforcement think that the killer was a traveling business man which is why his crimes would start and stop. While these attempts at misdirection did not fool law enforcement for very long, it did muddy the water with media coverage. It was reported that the killer was a traveler, a smoker, or a guy who liked big red gum even though Ridgway was none of these things. These little attempts at misdirection fooled the general public in Ridgway’s favor and precious time and resources were wasted forensically testing these items.
When Ridgway began dumping victims in the Portland area law enforcement incorrectly believed that their killer had moved and they minimized their efforts in Seattle, falling right into Ridgway’s trap. The killer also changed his car regularly and made sure that he created false trails. Ridgway changed his car often, he used his own cars sometimes but he also drove his brother’s truck, his parents station wagon and his girlfriend’s/wives’ cars. As many know Gary was employed as a truck painter. He spent a lot of his time at home painting and working on his cars, removing and replacing canopies and just in general altering his vehicles. This allowed Ridgway to move about more freely as he was not seen in only one type of car. This is in stark contrast to Ted who repeatedly used his tan colored bug until it was linked to the murders. At that point Bundy would use Liz Kendall’s bug or make slight modifications to his own car but these efforts paled in comparison to Ridgway’s efforts to conceal his vehicles.
Ridgway also made sure the women he killed were clean when he dumped their bodies. He would have them shower and used the bathroom before his crimes, which had a three-fold purpose. First it put his victims at ease around him. Second, it made his clean up easier (victims wet themselves when being strangled and Gary didn’t like doing extra laundry), and third it removed evidence from his victims’ bodies. This is a just another example of how Ridgway was able go undetected for so long. He thought about his crimes, learned things and then changed his methods to iron out bumps in his murderous plans.
When questioned by investigators he always had explanations for his whereabouts and did not deny “dating” women on the SeaTac strip. Ridgway even used women he had been seeing to create alibis and a false sense of security. In his confession he explained that he would often pick up sex workers for dates repeatedly and not kill or hurt them in order to create a facade that he was a nice guy.
All of these things suggest that Ridgway wasn’t the bumbling criminal he was made out to be.
Victims
Another misconception in the Green River case regards victimology. Many people seem to think that all of Ridgway’s victims were sex workers which is simply not true. Contrary to popular belief some of the Green River victims were not prostitutes, although most did lead high risk lifestyles and were part of the “scene” as Bundy called it. Many were homeless, addicts, sex workers, exotic dancers, and hitch hikers, but not all. Carol Ann Christensen had no connections to this scene at all and worked as a waitress at a bar and grill near the airport. Opal Mills, a local high school student, had no arrests for prostitution (or anything else) but was known to hitch hike. Cheryl Wims was not a known sex worker but did struggle with addiction to drugs and alcohol. Ridgway’s victimology was actually much broader than most people assume.
Bundy used this misinformation about GRK’s victims to “prove” that he was a better criminal than the Riverman as Bundy abducted low risk victims, even though we know Bundy killed at least several hitchhikers who were unfortunate enough to get in his car. And Bundy, ever the coward, often chose very small willowy women to victimize. Ridgway on the other hand was physically strong even though he appeared slight. Ridgway was able to control and subdue many women, and while many were small and young some of his victims outweighed him, and a few were taller than him. My point being, both men were cowards and monsters who took advantage of all types of women, their victimology is not that different. Both men killed both low risk and high-risk victims, but of course Bundy doesn’t like to focus on his high-risk victims.
The abduction and murders of women not in the scene, (waitresses, moms at bus stops, and daycare workers) demonstrates that Ridgway was intelligent and organized enough to pull off meticulous crimes which were never solved... he just preferred easier targets.
Investigation
Another misconception about Ridgway is that he was only was allowed to kill due to the women he victimized; this is a partial misconception. In 1982, right after the first several bodies were found floating in the Green River, a task force was formed made up of 25 detectives from both the city of Kent and King County. For the next 19 years, as many as 40 detectives at a time (70 people if you include officers and support staff) worked solely on this case. At its smallest, 4 or 6 detectives were at work following up on tips. For years, evidence was collected. Men were followed and interviewed. Suspect lists were compiled. When this crime spree occurred, there was no AFIS (automated finger print identification system), no DNA testing, and little cooperation between agencies. A single finger print could take two months to process. Then it had to be compared manually and sent from state to state to check for matches. At the end of the day, the tab for this investigation cost a whopping $30 million dollars.
In the late 1980s detective Matt Haney had a hunch that Ridgway was the most likely killer but it took years for his suspicions to be proved. Using a tip from Marie Malvar’s family, he collected Ridgeway’s DNA in 1987, the same year DNA testing became available. Most other detectives believed other, better suspects were the ones to blame.
Despite the best technology at the time and Haney’s suspicions, Ridgway was not caught. As mentioned above, Ridgway was always a Green River suspect. From his first arrest for solicitation in 1982 until the day he was apprehended Ridgway was among the hundreds of men suspected of being the killer. Despite being on this list, Ridgway evaded capture because on paper, he was a poor suspect. Ridgway was a very typical man in both appearance and life style. He held down the same job for years. He was married and even fathered a son. In his life he was generally even keeled and unremarkable. He was investigated by the Green River Task force several times. Gary’s coworkers even named him “Green River Gary” a moniker he hated, but even his coworkers claimed they were just teasing the awkward guy at work, they did not actually believe he was capable of committing such atrocities.
Moreover, Ridgway had no record of violent offenses. Several violent crimes from his past would come out once he was arrested, but none of these were on his official police record. In the early 80s he was accused of assaulting a sex worker, but the charges were dropped when the woman did not want to testify. Ridgway also had a juvenile record for stabbing a 6-year-old boy, but being a juvenile at the time those records were sealed.
Ridgway was always willing to work with investigators and readily admitted he “dated” women on the SeaTac strip. He allowed himself to be interviewed but nothing solid was ever linked to him. He even gave hair samples and passed two polygraphs. Additionally, Ridgway gained the trust of many working girls he did not kill. He purposely left many women he “dated” unharmed. Some prostitutes who were interviewed by the task force inadvertently protected Ridgway by painting the picture that he was a harmless John who showed them pictures of his son and was polite. Sometimes, he even bought them burgers to eat. This misdirection on Ridgway’s part was just one reason he was never apprehended.
Ridgway was so different than any other captured serial killer at the time that the FBI had to change their profiling techniques and knowledge of serial killers completely when Ridgeway was caught. From the 1980s when profiling was in its infancy until the early 2000s, it was generally believed that serial killers had high IQ's and were of above average intelligence. It was believed that serial killers had a hard time staying in relationships or keeping down jobs. Further, many experts in the field claimed that serial killers basked in the glory of their evil deeds, taunted police, and watched news coverage of their crimes. It was also taken as gospel that serial killers could not stop once they started killing and in general killers did not cross racial lines. None of these things applied to Gary Ridgway, adding to law enforcement’s belief that he was not a “good suspect.” (While Ridgway did write one anonymous letter to a newspaper, he did not aggressively flaunt his suspect status, or openly taunt police as some of the other men did.)
When DNA linked Ridgway to his murders, task force members weren’t totally shocked but they were surprised that it did not match one of the better suspects such as Melvyn Foster, William J. Stevens II, or any one of the violent pimps, husbands, boyfriends and exes who had been interviewed. They assumed their killer would be one of the men with more violence in his background, possibly a rape conviction, or one of suspects taunting them with letters and phone calls, but it wasn’t. Only detective Matt Haney wasn’t surprised.
As the phrase goes, hind sight is 20/20. I think this is a good saying to remember with this case. Once Ridgway was arrested many pieces fell into place and it painted a picture of an unhinged killer roaming King County, but no one piece of evidence was a smoking gun in this case. Ridgway dressed like the killer, plaid shirts and jeans but so did half of the working-class men in King County. Ridgway drove vehicles similar to the one reported by many witnesses, but how many men drove by the airport in tan or blue pickups and aged station wagons? Marie Malvar’s boyfriend was convinced Gary’s truck was the one he saw Marie climb into before her disappearance, but when Ridgway’s home was searched nothing of Marie’s was there. Investigators hit a brick wall, but kept Gary Ridgway in the back of their minds. Every little piece of evidence was part of a puzzle in this case but nothing conclusively tied Ridgway to anything more than being a client of many of the working girls in the area. This tip by Marie’s family and boyfriend was what lead Det. Haney to collect Ridgway’s DNA in ’87.
NOTE- before I go on, I just want to say that it would be naïve of me to pretend that the victims’ professions and life styles did not affect the investigation. It absolutely did. It affected public perceptions, law enforcement response, and media attention and these women did not receive the same attention as the Ted victims from seven years prior. For example, in late 1983, citizens called for a public forum and called for an “end of prostitution.” Detective Mullinax suggested that the killer was the problem, not the prostitutes and there were some very awkward moments before the citizens told him they just wanted Seattle to be free of sex workers. This was just one example of the public opinion not being kind to these women.
In this piece, I simply want to point out that law enforcement response was not as minimal as some people make it out to be. There have been many cases where law enforcement has completely dropped the ball when investigating the murders and disappearances of sex workers such as the Grim Sleeper investigation, but I do not think the Green River Task force deserves to be placed in the same category.
Additionally, if Ridgway was not caught ONLY because the police blatantly disregarded the cases of sex workers, then why wasn’t he caught after killing daycare worker Maureen Freeney? Or blonde waitress Carol Anne Christensen? But all measures these two women came from caring families, were white, and did not live in the scene, and were reported missing right away. If Ridgway was only going free due to poor law enforcement response, then he should have been caught after the deaths of the women above, but he was not.
Casualties
Because of the nature of Ridgway’s victims, media coverage was initially slim and many victims of Ridgway were never reported missing at all. Gary Ridgway was convicted or 49 murders although he admitted to over 71. In recent articles Ridgway has even confessed to leaving 80 bodies in King County alone. Investigators doubt King County was the only county that Ridgway operated in and it is generally believed that a string of bodies found in Tacoma and Portland, Oregon were the work of the Riverman. Some of those women are discussed below. Because of this information I am inclined to believe that Ridgway has many, many more victims who have never been found, who are unidentified, who were never reported missing or whose deaths were attributed to other things. Many missing women have been placed on the “Green River List” because the pool of potential victims is much larger than only missing sex workers. With the addition of these victims I think it is very possible that Ridgway’s victim count far surpasses any official numbers and may make him one of the worst serial killers in America.
Some of the women I believe were victimized by Ridgway are profiled below.
In conclusion, all of these things point to Ridgway being a much more prolific, cunning killer than many have made him out to be. If Ridgway’s known victim count is 70 (charged with 49) and he himself claims there is 80 bodies in King County alone, I think it is safe to assume the real number may be closer to 100.
Ridgway has only been charged with homicides if he both confessed to and there was one or more pieces of evidence against him. For example, if he led investigators to a body he was charged with that murder and all the murders of the women he left in the same cluster. He has also been charged with other cases if there was circumstantial evidence, fiber evidence, paint chip evidence, or DNA. He has not been charged with the murders of women still missing or women whose cases cannot be linked to him in corroborating way, which is why the confession list is so much longer than the charged list. Also please remember that mass murders are not known for their honesty and we have to take confessions with a grain of salt.
The official Green River Victim list is challenging to compile because different agencies have different lists, some add women are still missing while others add only known homicides. Some add all suspected victims, some do not. Some add victims to the list only if Ridgway is the prime suspect, and other lists add victims whose cases have other prime suspects but Ridgway is still a possibility.
Below I have completed write ups of women I believe were victims of Ridgway as well as a section to remember his proven victims, both known and unknown.
NOTE- I want this section to tell the women’s stories in a respectful way and initially I did not want to focus on either their professions or their physical appearances, but I was also wanted this section to be authentic and I don’t want to sugar coat any of these stories. For many of the victims there is very, very little information available. I think this is why sometimes their appearances are mentioned as it sounds better to say “At age 21, she was a tall woman with thick red hair and a great smile” rather than she died at 21. Additionally, some of these victims’ stories are not very pleasant and a in a few cases information from family and friends is unflattering or downright negative (Wendy Coffield and Marta Reeves specifically). Rather than skip these women or pretend these things did not occur I chose to include them in the summaries below. I added as many positives as I could and tried (key word tried) to shy away from information solely about their appearances or criminal records but sometimes no other information is available. I hope everyone can understand that my intention is to remember these women and their lives in the best possible way while realizing that not everything is positive. I ask you for only respect down in the comments. Thank you.
In remembrance
Gary Ridgway pled guilty to the homicides of the 49 people profiled in this piece. (Because this is a mystery sub reddit and the write-up will have to be put into broken into several pieces, I will begin with the Jane Does Ridgway confessed to killing. All other victims both potential and confirmed are placed in chronological order to the best of my ability.)
Jane Doe B-10 was a murder victim who was found in 1984, near the remains of Cheryl Wims. She was a white female between the ages of 12 and 19. She most likely died in the summer of 1983. She may have had brown hair and was around 5’5’ and 120 lbs. She was likely left-handed. She had a healed injury to the front of the left side of her skull. She is not Rose Cole, Janel Peterson, Susan Cappel, Lisa Dickinson, Wendy Huggy, Kase Lee, Keli McGinnis, Anna Anderson, Kristi Vorak, Amy Matthews, Teresa Hammon, Cheryl Wyant, Denise Dorfman, Carol Edwards, Linda Jackson, Angela Meeker, Andria Bailey, Dean Peters, Joan Hall, Patricia LeBlanc, MaryJo Long, or Kerry Johnson.
Jane Doe B-17’s bones were found twice. Some bones were found in 1984 and some more were found in 1986. She was most likely a white female, aged 14-19, around 5’4”- 5’8” and average weight, around 120-140 lbs. She most likely died in 1983. Ridgway said she died in Spring or Summer 1983. Isotope testing shows she is possibly from the Northern United states (Alaska, Montana, Idaho, North Dakota) or Canada. She is not Rose Cole, Janel Peterson, Susan Cappel, Lisa Dickinson, Wendy Huggy, Kase Lee, Keli McGinnis, Anna Anderson, Kristi Vorak, Linda Jackson, Andria Bailey, Joan Hall, Patricia LeBlanc, MaryJo Long, Carol Donn, Barbara Cotton, Pollyanne Carter or Kerry Johnson.
Jane Doe B- 20 was a murder victim who was discovered in 2003 after Ridgway led investigators to her body. Her skull was not recovered so no composite can be made and no race can be determined. She died in between 1973-1993 but most likely died in the late 1970s. She was likely 13-24 years old. Ridgway says she was a white woman about 20 years old with brown or blonde shoulder length hair who he killed in Summer ’82 or ’83. Ridgeway claims to have started his crime spree in ’82 but it could have been earlier. He does not remember killing anyone in the 1970s but admits it is possible. Jane Doe B-20 is not Keli McGinnis, Andria Bailey, Cora McGuirk, or Deborah Tomlinson.
Wendy Lee Coffield was a young woman whom life had never treated kindly. She was a junior high dropout, a chronic runaway, and a hitchhiker. She never had the chance to land on her feet and start over. She was only 16 when she was murdered in 1982. To add insult to injury, her own family even said they weren’t surprised when her “lifestyle” caught up with her. Gisele A. Lovvorn was a 17-year-old Dead Head and free spirit who wandered the country watching Grateful Dead shows with her on again off again boyfriend. In early high school was a straight A student before dropping out. In the summer of 1982, she called her parents in California to tell them she was going to travel home and re-enroll in high school. She left her apartment one Saturday in July at 1 pm to “turn 3 or 4 tricks” she never made it home and her parents were never able to see their free-spirited daughter again. Debra Lynn Bonner was 22 when her body was found in the Green River. She had dreams of getting a GED and joining the navy but an abusive relationship and addiction lead her to a life on the streets. Despite her profession, Debra called her parents regularly and was trying to pay off her debt (She had several unpaid tickets in Tacoma). She was planning to visit her father after he had an eye operation but she never made it home. Marcia Faye Chapman nicknamed Tiny, was a mother of three who engaged in sex work only to support the three children she loved so much. She left her apartment one August evening and disappeared into the night. She was only 31 years old. Cynthia Jean Hinds had no criminal record but frequented the streets of south Seattle. Everybody called the 17-year-old her nickname, Cookie. Her boyfriend and probable pimp reported that he last saw her get into a black Jeep on August 11th 1982. Her body was later recovered from the Green River. Opal Charmaine Mills was a biracial 16-year-old who, according to her brother, struggled to fit in in a racially divided world. She never got the chance to learn to be comfortable in her own skin because she disappeared after going to work in 1982. An occasional hitch hiker, Opal had no other links to the “scene.” Opal and her friend Cookie (Hinds) had been hired to do some painting near Angel Lake park. Opal called her parents to pick her up from work, but she never made it home. Terry Renee Milligan, a 15-year-old, hadn’t been seen for several weeks when her live-in boyfriend reported her missing and then immediately skipped town. Terry was a bright student who wanted to study computer science in college and dreamed of going to Yale. Terry gave birth to a son as a teenager and her hopes of college changed course, although friends have always explained that Terry adored her son and care of him the best she could. She was also musically inclined and sang in the church band all throughout her childhood. She was seen last arguing with another woman outside her apartment after that she disappeared. Mary Bridgett Meehan was adopted as a young child and grew up in Bellevue, a wealthy suburb east of Seattle. She was a compassionate soul who loved animals and children. She wanted to be a mother. Two miscarriages at ages 15 and 16 left her broken inside, her family and friends explained that she was never the same. She starting using drugs and drifted around the Seattle area and began engaging in sex work. Later, Mary gave up another baby for adoption after her boyfriend kicked her out because he didn’t want kids. But unfortunately, less than a year later, the cycle began again. Mary was back living with a dead-beat boyfriend and pregnant, except this time she was determined to be a good, stable mother, but she never got the chance. She left her motel room and vanished into the night at 8 months pregnant in September 1982.
Debra Lorraine Estes went by the name Betty Jones on the street. She was barely 15 and had entered the scene five years earlier at age 10. Her parents were always worried for her, driving the streets looking for their daughter and bailing her out of the King County jail under various names and aliases. Her pimp was a sleazy older man whom occasionally lived with her and her friend Becky Marrero. She was last known to be alive in September 1982, but may have been alive into December. Linda Rule’s parents divorced when she was a teen and the family disintegrated with each person taking their own paths. She last seen leaving her apartment and walking to Kmart on Aurora Avenue north, to buy clothes. When she did not arrive back home, her boyfriend assumed she had been arrested, but he couldn’t find her at any of the local jails. He did not think Linda was working as it was rare to see girls working Aurora Avenue during the day time. He immediately filed a missing person’s report. Unlike many other men in this case, her boyfriend was not believed to be a pimp. 16-year-old Linda and her boyfriend were saving up for their wedding and but it would never come.
Denise Darcel Bush, a 23-year-old Portland native had traveled to the SeaTac strip after hearing that money was better in Seattle. She suffered from epilepsy but used medication to keep it under control. She was last seen crossing the street to buy cigarettes. She was never reported missing and her friends all assumed she had simply had decided to go back to Portland. At the time, it was hard to know if she or many of the other girls left willingly or suffered a much worse fate. Shawnda Leea Summers from Bellevue, Washington loved going to the beach. She was last seen at the same intersection on the strip, the day after Denise Bush was last seen. She was not reported missing for months and some girls thought she had moved to Portland to work. Her parents looked for her whenever they could but Shawnda would never reach her 19th birthday.
Shirley Marie Sherrill at age 19 was described as tall and beautiful. She was last seen in the China town area of Seattle having lunch with a friend. They both left the restaurant to work and were picked up by different men. Shirley was never seen again. Like Shawnda and Denise, she disappeared in October 1982. Becky Marrero was the 20-year-old friend of Debra Estes. The two lived together at a motel on the SeaTac strip on and off. In the fall of 1982, Becky left her two-year-old son with her parents and told them she was leaving for a while and going to a place that “babies shouldn’t be”, but she would be back eventually. She packed her bags, borrowed some money from her father to rent a room and vanished. Becky was registered as living at a motel on the strip until December 1st ’82, along with her friend Debra Estes. She never made it home for Christmas like she said she would. Colleen Renee Brockman was 15 years old when she was last seen alive. She worked the SeaTac strip, but her friend Bunny and other girls still thought she was naïve. She trusted her customers wholeheartedly and enjoyed the gifts and dinner dates she got from johns. She was identified through the braces that were still on her teeth when her skull was found in Pierce County years after she was last seen. Delores Lavern Williams was a tall, slender, African American girl with a lovely smile. She worked near the Red Lion hotel near the airport and generally “dated” wealthier, traveling johns. In early 1983 locals and friends realized they hadn’t seen her in a few weeks. She was reported missing. She was only 17 years old. Alma Ann Smith hailed from wine country and was born in Walla Walla Washington. In the 8th or 9th grade she began traveling to Seattle alone on the weekends, something that confused her younger friends. She eventually moved to Seattle and was last seen entering a blue truck with a very average looking male. Gail Matthews was drifting through life in her mid-20s. She lived with her boyfriend, Curt in south Seattle. The couple did odd jobs, tried to win money by gambling, and hitchhiked around the area. Gail would occasionally come home with money that Curt assumed she made doing sex work but he wasn’t sure and didn’t want to ask about it. He saw Gail leave the bar they were at together saying she was going to “make some money”. He later saw her in a car with an average looking white guy with a mustache. For some reason the scene chilled him and he knew Gail was in trouble because she looked scared. He waited for Gail to come home but she never appeared. Curt called the police and the Gail’s family. Gail’s ex-husband had custody of their children, but he was worried about the young woman who he remembered as a meandering soul who wanted to be an artist. A missing person report would be filed in April 1983. Andrea M. Childers moved from California to Washington to move in with her father and step mother. She was a wonderful dancer who wanted to be a dance instructor to children. She taught a dance exercise class and was close to her elderly grandmother. At 16 she left her family home and was never seen again. Sandra K. Gabbert was called “Sand-e” by her family and was known as Smurf on the street. She was on the varsity basketball team in high school before dropping out at age 17. Sand-e moved in with her teenage boyfriend and started working on the SeaTac strip. Sand-e told her mother that she made more in turning one trick than she did working a whole week at KFC. Her mother understood her daughter’s desperation and commissioned her to “be careful.” They also talked about taking a trip to sunny California sometime. That was the last time Sand-e and her mother even spoke. Kimi Kai Pitsor street name Melinda was a happy 16-year-old who loved glitter, unicorns, and the color purple which was fitting for the young woman whose native Hawaiian name means “golden sea at dawn.” Kimi Kai always wanted to be an adult and when she turned 16, she left home to move in with her boyfriend/protector in downtown Seattle. Her boyfriend last saw her talking to a date in a blue pickup. She never made it home and her boyfriend called the police with the description of the vehicle. She had left home and entered the scene less than two months before. Tragically, Kimi Kai was the third of Joyce Pitsor’s three children to pass away. Kimi Kai’s two older siblings died as infants. Kimi Kai’s mother, Joyce later adopted three other children. Sandra D. Major was from Rochester, New York. Her family knew she worked as a prostitute and while they weren’t thrilled with her lifestyle, they always kept in touch and “loved her the same.” The last contact the Majors had with Sandra was a post card sent from Seattle. After that they lost touch. Sandra was believed to be last seen on Aurora Avenue north in 1983 at age 20. A TV in program in 2013 highlighted the unidentified victims of the Green River Killer, prompting the family to contact the police. Sandra was identified and laid to rest. The family gave a brief interview in which they asked for privacy. Because of this very little is known about Sandra’s personal life.
Marie Malvar’s came from a large Filipino family. At 18 she had left home but called her parents and siblings regularly. Marie’s boyfriend saw her enter a blue truck and drive away. She was gone a while and he decided to track down the truck. He drove where he saw the truck go but couldn’t find Marie or the vehicle. He was hesitant to contact the police due to their backgrounds and was even more scared to tell Marie’s parents about her profession. After 4 day had passed her boyfriend, brother, and parents went to the police station to report Marie missing. They even drove around with police until they found a similar looking truck. Police questioned the man and took down his information. His name was Gary Ridgway. But Marie wasn’t in his house and he had no record of note, so the police left. The man was one name among hundreds that they took back to the task force offices.
TO BE CONTINUED....
These sources are a good place to begin
Green River Running Red by Ann Rule
The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I hunt for the Green River Killer by Bob Keppel and William Birnes
The Search for the Green River Killer: The True Story of America's Most Prolific Serial Killer by Carlton Smith and Tomas Guillen
https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19920727&slug=1504298
http://charleyproject.org/case/keli-kay-mcginness
https://unidentified.wikia.org/wiki/Green_River_victims
https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/sheriff/about-us/enforcement/investigations/green-river.aspx
http://www.seattlemag.com/article/remembering-victims-green-river-killer
https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19911121&slug=1318612