Written by :
Published on :
Even before this past weekend's news broke that the body of 5Dimes founder Sean "Tony" Creighton had been located by Costa Rican police, a most unusual theory arose that the sportsbook owner had faked his own death.
Why?
Two years ago, 5Dimes was caught up in a money laundering scheme involving Amazon gift cards.
The US Government may have wanted Creighton but there are others in the online gambling sector living in Costa Rica that have been under indictment. While it’s true that the United States and Costa Rica entered into an Extradition treaty in 1982 approved by the Costa Rican legislature in 1991, the Costa Rican government has never extradited a sportsbook or online casino operator back to the United States.
Indeed the US Government has since settled with bigger fish than Creighton in recent years.
Just last year, the billionaire founder of Bodog, Calvin Ayre, settled with the US Government for one year of unsupervised probation and a $500,000 fine.
Others who have since done their time are back in the game. None of this would have been lost on Sean.
Some have suggested it was a good time for Creighton to get out of the biz with sports betting now legal in the United States. How on Earth will 5Dimes and others be able to compete?
The fact is, this has been a record setting football season for everyone we've spoken to. With sports gambling legal in the States, more folks than ever before are exposed to the activity. Not all states will be offering Web gambling outside the casinos (i.e. Mississippi). Every state will be imposing a state tax that, as of now, does not fall below the 10% mark (NJ is 13% for online wagering).
Creighton, from Bridgeport, West Virginia, was 43. He began 5Dimes shortly before 2000 after arriving in Costa Rica in 1998.
Creighton disappeared September 24 after an alleged ambush by up to five men. Reports of a $750K ransom paid via Bitcoin have not been cooberated by local law enforcement. A vehicle believed to have been Sean's was also located last week. Gamblin911 has since indepedently verified that a crashed Porsche Cayenne Turbo vehicle did belong to Creighton.
Friends of Sean back home in the States tell Gambling911.com they are already in the process of planning his funeral and a memorial service. Both of Sean's parents are deceased, however, the family of a woman who dated his father remained very close to him over the years.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
