The Internet Gambling 21 Crew – Where Are They Now? Steve Budin Thriving in 2014
MIAMI -- A lot has changed in the Internet gambling industry since the last century.
Gambling online is now legal in a handful of states, with more states looking to join in every day.
Industry observers expect online gambling to be legal eventually in most if not all U.S. states.
But the atmosphere wasn't so friendly back in 1998, when then-U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, on orders from then-President Bill Clinton, issued Federal arrest warrants for 21 Americans accused of running online or offshore gambling operations.
"You can't hide online or offshore," Reno famously uttered at a press conference announcing the crackdown on the gambling operations.
Some of the operations offered sports betting online or by telephone or both, while other operations offered online casino games.
All of the operations were based in Central America or the Caribbean.
The Americans who were busted came to be known as the "Internet 21," with some of them staying fugitives, some returning to the U.S. to face charges and cop pleas and one, Jay Cohen, inexplicably asking for a trial, losing it and going to Federal prison for 18 months.
So what's happened to the "Internet 21" in the years since the busts?
Some have resumed normal lives, some have died and some have just disappeared.
One "Internet 21" original, however--Steve Budin of Miami, Florida--has completely transformed his life, going from the Internet bookie business to the sports prognostication business (he's now a tout).
Charged in 1998 for his role in running SDB Global, an offshore sportsbook in Costa Rica, Budin doesn't book sports bets any more--he now tells sports bettors who to bet on, via a series of pay-for-info websites.
Gambling 911 earlier this week caught up with Budin in the Sunshine State and asked him about his recollections of the bust, how he got off the hook and why he became a tout.
Here is a transcript of that interview:
Gambling 911: It's been 16 years since you and 20 others were busted by the Feds in 1998 in the first Federal prosecution of Americans for running offshore and online gambling sites. What do you remember about that day in 1998 when you were charged, how did you get the news of the charges and how did you react when you learned of the charges?
Steve Budin: I was sitting in my back private office at the SDB Global headquarters doing what I loved to do most, smoking a joint of good old Costa Rican cajeta and watching the live betting tallies as they came in. The next thing you know, my secretary rings and says Janet Reno is on the phone. Holy shit! Talk about a buzz kill! Then before I had a chance to say anything, she put the call through. There I was, on the phone with the very last person you would ever want to talk to. She informed me that they had arrested my 70-year-old father in the U.S. and would only let him go if I returned and faced the music. She was quite the poker player, so naturally I folded.
G9: You were busted for running SDB Global, a sportsbook in Costa Rica that had a website but only took wagers via telephone, and which you co-owned with your father, David, and another man, Sandy Becher. All three of you were charged with felonies and all three of you turned yourselves in. Your father pled guilty to a felony and was fined $750,000 and received several months of house arrest, while Becher pled guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge. The charges against you were dismissed. How did you escape prosecution and how did you feel about doing so, considering that your partners were not able to do so?
SB: They wanted to charge Sandy and me with felonies and have Sandy, an attorney, disbarred. My dad stepped up and took the heat for us both. I got a felony withold after completing a pre-trial type of probation. Sandy got it a little worse because he was a lawyer and was held to a higher legal standard, but he wound up keeping his law license and making more money defending criminals then he ever made being one.
G9: You wrote a book not long ago that detailed, among other things, your experiences running an offshore sportsbook and getting busted. Can you tell us a little about the book and why you wrote it?
SB: It was a roller coaster ride of epic proportions and it was important history. We were pretty much the first credit card commercial bookmakers, so people should know what really happened. Any of your readers that haven't read it, I'd be happy to send them a free signed copy.
G9: Let's fast-forward to today. You're no longer an offshore bookmaker in Central America, you're now a sports handicapper in Miami, running several websites. Tell us about this transformation, how you made it and why you made it. And also tell us a little about the websites.
SB: After 10 years of building my reputation both onshore and off, I wasn't going to walk away from an industry that I felt I helped put on the map. I couldn't take bets any more, so the handicapping business was all that was left. I wanted to change it like I changed the bookmaking business. I took sports betting from street corners and leg-breaking to Visa and MasterCard, and I wanted to change the handicapping business the same way. And I did. I took a phone room, cold call, high-pressure heist, and changed it to an online, transparent, affordable value with information that both is worth what you pay for it and doesn't claim to be what it is not. Most people in this industry want to take your money today with the promise of winning tomorrow. I'd like to offer your readers the opposite. I'd like to give them Sunday's best bets from every expert on my site absolutely free, because I know once they experience my product, they will love it and always come back. If they go to PickNation.com and buy a one-day all-access pass and use the code G911, they will get every play from every capper absolutely free. Enjoy, and let me know what they think.
G9: Via your websites, do you charge people for sports betting information? If so, how much do you charge, what sports do you handicap and what is your success rate in picking winners?
SB: A pick is anywhere from $5 to $99 and there are either $5, $7 or $9 picks available every day. All records are posted on the website. Remember, what matters is bankroll built, not wins and losses. Because we give a rating with our picks and analysis, virtual bankrolls can be kept with each handicapper. Do you want they guy who is 77% or is up 5,000 units?
G9: What other projects or activities related to gambling are you also involved in? What's coming up in the future?
SB: We are living in very transitional times in the sports gambling business. With the leagues embracing fantasy, it opens up the concept of action to kids at younger ages. It's only inevitable that these kids graduate to a more fair game like sports betting, then continue to get beat by sharper players at fantasy. The problem with fantasy is that you lose way more than you win, where in sports betting you usually win half the time. Most bookies feel threatened by fantasy, but they shouldn't any more than vodka feels threatened by beer.
G9: You appear on television regularly, including often on the Fox News Channel, to discuss gambling issues in the news. Do you have any TV appearances coming up?
SB: I do a web show called 'The CEO Speaks' every Friday thru Sunday on my website and appear on radio and TV regularly as the headlines call for it.
G9: How are your father, David, and your old partner, Sandy Becher, doing and what are they up to these days? Do you ever talk about the 1998 busts with them?
SB: My father passed away about seven years ago. Sandy and I are still best friends, but we never talk about it, too much pain and regret.
G9: One of the other people who was busted by the Feds at the same time as you was Steve Schillinger, who co-owned an Internet and telephone sportsbook in Antigua called World Sports Exchange. When the book folded last year, Schillinger killed himself by shooting himself in the head. What was your reaction when you heard about the suicide?
SB: To be honest, you just broke the news to me. Sad, there has to more to life then winning every hand.
G9: As one of the original offshore sportsbook operators in the world, you have insight into the business few others have. After the busts, World Sports Exchange thrived for years, and then, all of a sudden around 2011, ran out of money and stopped paying its winning customers, then went belly up in 2013, leaving hundreds of bettors stiffed out of their winnings. What do you make of what happened, and why do you think it did?
SB: I have no first-hand knowledge of World Sports Exchange and what caused their ultimate demise, but I know a lot about the industry and the problems it was having at the time. Problem number one was inflated bonus structures where clients got 30 and 40 and 50 per cent signing bonuses. Add to that the credit card issues at the time and how imternational banks were stealing rolling reserves from these bookmakers left and right and there was nothing they could do because they were bookmakers. Then Western Union cracked down as well and pretty soon it was almost impossible to take the type of deposits that fueled the instant gratification nature of gamblers. It was the beginning of the end for non-European, non-publicly traded mom and pop shops.
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
