To: SCOOBEY-DO (877 )
From: ocmayor Thursday, Jan 14 1999 12:41PM ET
Reply # of 2355
Subj: Letter to eConnect Shareholders
Date: 1/14/99 7:05:34 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: j.wexler@worldnet.att.net (James Wexler)
To: ocmayor@aol.com
CC: jameswexler@yahoo.com
eConnect Inc. (OTC:BB: BETT)
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Letter to eConnect Shareholders From:
E. James Wexler, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
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Shareholders, Customers, Clients, Associates, Friends and Family,
It gives me great pleasure to write to you today.
Foremost, I would like to thank Tom Hughes, Augie Masciotra, and the many eConnect shareholders that have afforded me the opportunity of merging our two companies to produce such a fine outcome in eConnect.
Since some of you don't know me, I would like to take a moment to introduce myself. I have been the Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of eBet Inc. since it was founded. My professional experience includes nearly six years of experience in the investment banking industry primarily with the firms of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Bear Stearns & Co., Inc. In addition, I have more than twelve years experience in the gambling and sports handicapping fields and am considered by my peers as a knowledgeable expert within the industry. For many years, I served as a consultant to off shore sports books, handicappers and sports bettors until starting my own company, eBet Inc. early last year.
Looking to the future, I thank you for allowing me the privilege to manage the future of our great company.
Fortunately, I will not be alone. I will rely heavily on a committed management team (i.e., Tom, Augie, Hall, etc.) and a loyal shareholder base that will help me guide eConnect to achieve overwhelming customer satisfaction and significant shareholder value.
1998 was a great year for our company. 1999 will prove to be even better.
Individually, Betting Inc's vision came to fruition. The company saw its first locations to install the paymaster, it's first satisfied clients, (Goldmine Casino, eSportsbet sportsbook) its first revenue, and most important to you, the shareholder, Betting Inc. watched its stock price rise from $0.06 per share mid-year to a year end price close of $0.66 per share, a 1000% increase!!!, not bad.
eBet Inc. also watched its own dreams become a reality. At eSportsbet, our wholly owned sports book subsidiary, we opened our doors to customers September 1, 1998 and immediately saw positive results.
We added customers, revenues and income every month and see no end to this growth in sight.
In December, eSportsbet announced that it would use Betting Inc's Perfect Paymaster system. Our customers are using the Paymaster with great satisfaction, thus ending 1998; a year that greatly exceeded expectations.
The prospects for 1999 appear to be even brighter …
eConnect was formed by the merger of Betting Inc. and eBet Inc. on January 11, 1999
It is important to note that in merging the two companies, we have not diluted the company stock and have no plans to do so. Our goal is to increase shareholder value, not dilute it.
Since the merger, the stock price has stabilized and is consistently trading an average daily volume in excess of 100,000 shares. The average has been $0.44 per share. Not bad considering that the average bid for January of last year was $0.03 per share.
We are also excited that eConnect will release its long awaited 1998 10K and thus become a reporting company. The company will follow this SEC filing with continual quarterly reports.
We will work very hard to market our company by profiling eConnect at such places as the Internet Stock Market, Digital Stock Market, and other specialists who are experts in sharing the eConnect story with the investment community.
eConnect will continue to raise capital from the private sector in order to fund operations, attain new customers and thus increase shareholder value.
If we have excess cash, we will use it to buy eConnect common stock on the open market. In our opinion, eConnect stock is the least expensive currency available.
eSportsbet will continue to add new clients monthly by direct advertising and word of mouth. Again, adding revenues, and importantly, profits to the bottom line.
We will continue to foster strong alliances with vendors for the "Paymaster" system as well as sportsbook and casinos that will use our unique system with satisfaction.
Finally, eConnect will adapt to the evolving arena of gambling entertainment. If on-line lotteries or off-track horse betting on the Internet appear to areas that present profitable opportunities for the company, eConnect will be there.
1999, 2000, and beyond…
eConnect was formed with the two primary intentions. One, to own, manage, provide consulting services, complete turn-key solutions for international sportsbooks and casinos.
Two, and with equal importance, we will provide effective, efficient, and encrypted financial transactions for the international sportsbook and casino industry.
These two facets of our core business will propel eConnect into and to the forefront of a $600 Billion market.
Despite the many challenges, we are more excited than ever about the future of eConnect and our role in it. With hundreds of millions of connected computers around the world, people are demanding more and more from their PCs - whether they use them to market new products or to explore online encyclopedias for a school project, whether they conduct millions of corporate transactions a day or download the family banking statement, or whether they entertain themselves with various forms of eGaming. No person can deny what is on the doorstep and the horizon with the Internet.
Globalization of the Internet is one of the engines of eConnect's growth, now and well into the next century. There will be dislocations and speed bumps on the road to prosperity as people become accustomed to and comfortable with this new medium.
However, the path to efficiency and success with the Internet is irreversible, and eConnect will be there.
Most technology companies would be satisfied being participants in the greatest growth industry in history. At eConnect, we expect more. We see ourselves as pioneers of that growth story not merely participants. The minute we are satisfied is the minute we fail. Business history, in technology and elsewhere, is littered with the remains of companies whose achievements were undermined by complacency. We won't be one of them.
My confidence in our ability to continue eConnect's growth is well founded. Our merger of Betting Inc and ebet Inc. Inc. brought our company distinct competitive advantages in the rapidly growing international sportsbook and casino wagering industry. As a result of this merger, we have combined to create a formidable and unparalleled management team with more than 60 years of combined experience in complimentary fields of expertise. Our talents, rarely overlap, except in our unanimous desire to make eConnect successful.
A Word about Shareholder Value…
The most important way we can improve shareholder value is to win in the marketplace.
We are not concerned about daily fluctuations in eConnect stock price. The management is committed to the long-term. We know that if our customers are happy. Our shareholders will be rewarded.
A Note on Principles …
The marketplace is the driving force behind everything we do. At our core, we are company with an overriding commitment to quality. Our primary measures of success are, and will always be, customer satisfaction and shareholder value.
Finally…
We have prepared and are ready to compete in an industry that is computerized, sleek, sophisticated and awesome in size. Yet, despite its size, the Internet Gambling and Entertainment industry is like the gold rush fields of 19th century California. With very few participants and no industry leader to consolidate the now fragmented global sportsbook and casino market; the ground is truly untouched. As the saying goes, "there's gold up in them there hills" – today, we start digging.
X)_____________________________
E. James Wexler,
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer , eConnect Inc.
notes…
*eConnect's Internet web pages and networked computer systems are Y2K compliant pursuant to the Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act of 1998.
** Information contained in this news release, other than historical information, should be considered forward looking and is subject to various risk factors and uncertainties. Accordingly, actual results may differ from those in any forward-looking statements.
*** This document contains proprietary information that is the property of eConnect, Inc. Neither this document nor said proprietary information shall be published, reproduced, copied, disclosed, nor used for any purpose other than the review and consideration of the shareholders, without written approval from this organization.
COPYRIGHT © 1998 eConnect, Inc.
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