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EDIT: Realized I forgot to add a TLDR so here goes nothing lol:
Buy a mansion and have AI run your MC businesses, CEO businesses, and Bunker. Start a crew of AI and start building yourself up as a kingpin. Then, buy a customizable private island and start a cartel. Open up massive labs and add entertainment for tourists, if you so desire. Compete against AI-run cartels for control of major cities in the GTA universe (Even ones that aren't accessible in GTA online). Become allies with other cartels or enemies. Topple other cartels and take control of their assets. (Islands, territory, production, etc.) Go head to head with the government like Pablo Escobar did or stay more lowkey like the Cali Cartel.
Now I want to preface this by saying I have no insider information whatsoever. This is literally just what I’d like to see going forward in this game.
So moving forward after the Cayo Perico heist (which is the best money maker in the game by far) I’m not really sure where there is to go for Rockstar. I highly doubt they want to make something that pays even better than this because of shark card sales. So from here, I think they could head in a slightly different direction than heists with every other update.
-The Mansion Update: The apartments in-game are borderline useless for everything but the garage. You can do the original heists but that’s about it, unfortunately. I’d love to see mansions added into the game with the highest-end one being something like 20 million and the lowest end being say 5 million. From the mansion, you can get a central area to control all your businesses. Maybe you can get a massive garage with this. (A 40-60 car garage like the CEO office) Beyond this, you can start a crew and have them work under you as dealers for your various businesses (MC, Bunker, Nightclub, Vehicle warehouse, and Crates). You have to pay the dealers say 10-20 grand a day but they manage your business and sell them for you and pay you the money. You can also give them secondary tasks like going to collect money from your businesses, etc.
Now the big update
-The Cartel Update: Owning the mansion will be a precursor to all this content. With this update, you would be able to buy your own private island. My thought is it would be extremely expensive. Starting at around 30 million and going up to say 80-100 million. With this update, you can take the crew that you had with your mansions and expand it to become your own cartel. All of your businesses would run through this. Bunker, MC, CEO, and any others you may have. You’ll have bigger and better labs and warehouses on this island than you do in LS but you’ll still own the ones in LS. You can hire hitmen and enforcers or even hire old characters from prior DLC’s as these roles. (Vincent, for example) You’ll be able to employ drug dealers such as the Madrazo’s and new ones too. They employ dealers and move your product. They get a percentage based on how good they are. Eventually, they’ll be able to move all the products you can produce across all businesses. For example, the Madrazo’s could be good at moving your drugs but then not be very good at moving your weapons and vice versa with a new character. You’ll be able to choose which dealer moves which product. You can get your products and shipments seized and again that will depend on the quality of dealers you employ.
The Island itself will be originally blank except for a small airport. It will cost money to build labs and bunkers for your island but they will be worth it. They will be much bigger and able to store way more product and completely AI-controlled and maintained. You’ll start out with a smaller house on one side of the island that you can designate as your residency space. You can build guard towers and security checkpoints which will help boost the morale of your employees as well as keep your island safer from enemy cartels and the government. You can build entertainment spaces like a casino and nightclub or even a nightclub if you want to have tourists come to your island. This will be a security risk, of course, but will bring in money for you. You’ll be able to build garages below your home on the island and store whatever cars there that you want. You would be able to build yourself a race track if you wanted to. If you run out of room on your island you’ll be able to upgrade your island to a bigger one with a slightly different layout. It certainly would not be cheap but you’d have more space. Once you run out of space on the biggest island that’s as big as your cartel will be able to get until you topple other cartels and take control of their operations.
Now the big part of this DLC would be the AI-controlled cartels and government. We have one cartel in the game now to some extent (El Rubio) and you’ll be able to interact with these cartels. You’ll be able to choose what to say to them and how you handle business. If you choose to be offensive towards them and take over their territory they won’t like that which will start beef between you and them. You can have wars and, if you play your cards right, topple the cartel and take its resources and territory. You can also ally with other cartels and use each other’s routes and just generally help each other out.
If you topple another cartel (AI-controlled) you take control of their resources such as their island, territory, and supply lines. You can annoy other cartels if you wish by selling in their territory, robbing them (Cayo Perico heist), and killing their soldiers. This will make them less trusting of you if you do it obviously but if you’re careful they’ll be less trusting of everyone. Including any allies they have and this can be used to weaken them and hopefully topple them. The goal would be to become the biggest drug lord in the world which would probably mean toppling other big cartels. Play your cards right and these cartel leaders will have their guards lower around you and your cartel and you can make a move against them and kill them and topple the cartel swiftly. Of course, none of your allies would trust you anymore but you would have toppled a cartel and given yourself more control. The territory would be split up with you selling in LS and other cartels arguing over Vice City, Liberty City, Las Venturas, San Fierro, London, Capital City, etc. These areas would not be able to be traveled to but you would be able to see which cartel controls which cities and the cities population and a few other stats. Any cities added in future games that came to GTA online as free-roam areas would be added to that list, of course.
You can be a high profile drug lord like El Chapo and Pablo Escobar or you could be more low profile like the Cali Cartel. These are the two extremes but you can always fall somewhere in the middle. You can raise your public opinion meter by giving out money, building apartment buildings, parks, etc. With this update, there would be elections introduced. Only for President and maybe one or two other government roles but they can be elected and they’ll have different stances on issues that directly affect you. One can be hard on the cartels or another can be more lenient and open to working with them. If you want to go the low profile route you can try and rig the election in favor of the candidates you want to win. Of course, this won’t always work but you can always try. If you go the high profile route you can just assassinate (or attempt to, depending on how good your hitmen are) the candidate you want to lose. You’ll also have a meter of popularity and at each point the citizens of the country will either love you or they’ll hate you. The higher your popularity the easier it is to conduct business, higher prices for your products and if the government ever decides to launch a manhunt against you the citizens won’t help the government catch you. This will be seen as you’ll be able to move around LS and any other new cities freely and all you have to do is just stay away from police stations as much as possible. If you commit a crime or are seen near the police station you’ll instantly get a 5 star wanted level that you can’t cancel using Lester. If you use a CEO ability or any of your cartel abilities to try and bribe the police it’ll only take it from a 5 star to a 4 star. If your relationship with the public is bad it will be much harder to move around the city. There’ll be police checkpoints near any businesses, homes, or offices you have. You will be able to get around them but it won’t be easy. On your island, you’ll be completely safe and won’t have to worry about getting wanted. Of course, there will be a limit to how much stuff you can do before the government steps in, in a much bigger way. If your cartel kills too many politicians, cops, or other government officials the manhunt will become much larger and more intense. By this point, the relationship you have with the people will be essentially down the drain so everything with the low relationship will apply in this situation.
If your relationship is this bad you will essentially be staying on your island and away from the mainland because it won’t be safe for you. But periodically, the government will send the military to your island to try and take you out. You and the crew you employ as island security will have to hold off the military and at least attempt to kill them all. It won’t be easy but it will be possible. If you’re allied with any AI cartels they will send reinforcements to help you. This will happen for two weeks straight every two days unless you raise the meter with the citizens. After these two weeks of hell, the manhunt will reset back to just the low punishments and your island will be safe again. If you get killed by the military you will lose a lot and respawn in Bolingbroke with some of your crew coming to break you out. This will be a tough fight but it will be scripted like a heist mission and if you die then it will restart. After you’re outside the prison you’ll need to lose the cops, no help from Lester or CEO/Cartel abilities either since you won’t have a way to contact them just yet. After you lose them you will need to escape to a warehouse of yours that isn’t known by the police. (Facility or new underground safehouses) until you decide to make a break for it and try to get back to your private Island. Once back, most of your workers will be in jail or dead so you’ll have to hire new ones. Your lead enforcers and hitmen won’t be killed but will be in jail so you can decide during your escape whether you want to attempt to break them out too. If you choose no, you’ll have to hire a crew of players to break them out. You’ll pay something like 1 million per player and the players will have to break them out. To sum up the price of getting caught it will probably cost you somewhere in the region of 30 million dollars of lost product and workers on the low end and around 75 million on the high end.
Your cartel will bring in lots of money for you. Somewhere around 5-10 million per week on the low end and 30 million at the high end. You will NOT compete with other players, only against AI cartels. Elections will be for you and you alone, not other players.
As you can see this will be an endgame thing primarily based on the amount of money the buy-in would be. For the first update, it will be mainly vehicles that the people without a ton of money can buy but if you have a high-end apartment you’ll be able to become a kingpin for an AI-controlled cartel. It’ll be something to get your foot in the door and build some infrastructure for yourself. The pay won’t be amazing as you won’t be able to build that big of a crew but it will be something. Probably 50-100 thousand every GTA day. Eventually, the players will (ideally) save up money to buy the mansions which will mean you can employ more people and go higher up in the food chain with the AI cartel you chose. Eventually, once you get enough money to buy the private island you can split off from the AI cartel and start your own. You’ll be able to bring the infrastructure you built up under the AI cartel to your new cartel. The AI cartel will not like this for obvious reasons and this will set off a lot of beef and wars between your cartel and the AI cartel.

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
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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.

[H][FS][FT] Board Games in alphabetical order. Shipping not included.

• Android: Netrunner – Honor and Profit (No box, just cards) - $80
• Apocrypha with The Devil and The Flesh Expansions and KS promos - $80
• Deckscape: The Fate of London - $8
• Defenders of the Last Stand - $50
• Escape the Room: Secret of Dr. Gravely's Retreat - $15
• Exit: The Game – The House of Riddles - $10
• Forge War - $50
• The Game of CHIPS - FREE with any purchase
• A Game of Thrones: The Board Game - $30
• Gen 7 - $40
• Going, Going, GONE! - $10
• Knee Jerk with Knee Jerk: Movies Pack, Knee Jerk: Sci-Fi Pack, and Knee Jerk: Time Travel Pack - $5
• Loaded Questions: The Game - $10
• Martians: A Story of Civilization - $45
• Mottainai Deluxe - $30
• Ninja vs Ninja - $20
• The Ninth World: A Skillbuilding Game for Numenera - $40
• One Night Revolution - $10
• Pixel Tactics 4 with Pixel Tactics Promo Pack - $10
• Project: ELITE with Alien Pack Expansion and Dice ToweSpawn a Boss Promos - $105
• [redacted] Package: [redacted], [redacted]: Garden Party, [redacted]: Mercenaries - $20
• Romantic Rendezvous - Free with any other game purchase
• Saltlands with expansion and promos - WTT only
• Salvation Road - $40
• Seasons with Speedwall the Escaped promo - $35
• Shadowrun: Sparawl Ops Legendary Box with 5-6 player expansion and Coop expansion and promos - $115
• Siege Storm - $6
• Skyway Robbery - $70
• Slap .45 Mini - $4
• Stack The Bones - $10
• Swords and Bagpipes with Swords and Bagpipes: God Me Defend promo, Swords and Bagpipes: Know Your Enemy, and Swords and Bagpipes: Special Dagger deck - $55
• Tajemnicze Domostwo (Polish version of Mysterium) with Motive Cards Promo - $40
• TIME Stories - $35
• Treasure Mountain with Caverns of Gandum Expansion - SOLD
• Truth Be Told - $5
• Tuscany: Expand the World of Viticulture - SOLD
• UBOOT: The Board Game (Kickstarter Edition) - $125
• Unlock!: Heroic Adventures - $20
• WitchHunt - $10
• World War Z: The Game - Free with any other game purchase
• Zombicide Season 2: Prison Outbreak and Toxic City Mall Expansion - $100
• Zombie Fluxx - $5

Promos

• Agents of Mayhem: Gremlin Tech Deck 1 - $5
• Anachrony: The Secret Cabal 2019 Promo Cards - $20
• Asgard's Chosen: Artifacts - $4
• Battleground Fantasy Warfare: Monsters & Mercenaries – Ancient Blue Dragon - $2
• BattleTech: A Game of Armored Combat – New Pilot Cards - $3
• Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Dice Tower Room Promo Tile - $7
• Booze Barons: Lookout Tower Promo - $2
• Champions of Midgard: Valhalla – Kes Bakyr - $5
• Cthulhu: A Deck Building Game – Chef & Sea Captain promos - $12
• Cytosis: Microscope Promo Card - $3
• Detective: LA Crimes – Secret Cabal Promo Card - $7
• Exodus: Proxima Centauri – ECID-S14 Mini-Expansion - $10
• Expancity: Dice Tower Cruise Promo Tile - $4
• Fist of Dragonstones: The Tavern Edition – Percy Promo Pack - $10
• Fruitcake Fun Pack - $4
• Get Rich Quick: Dice Tower Casino Promo - $2
• GoodCritters: Cheap Knockoffs Promo Cards - $3
• GoodCritters: Promo Card Set - $3
• Heroes Wanted: Dice Promo Card - $2
• Lowlands: Brettspiel Adventskalender 2018 Promo - $2
• Mage Wars: Dice Tower 2015 Funding Campaign Promo Card Set - $5
• Mage Wars: Eekamouse Promo Card - $6
• Monster Lands: Aleaturrim Promo Card - $2
• Muse: Factory Promo Card - $3
• New Salem: Tom Commands Promo Card - $2
• Nothing Personal: The Lodge - $7
• Pie Town: Special Order Micro Expansion - $5
• Police Precinct: Richard Austria Character Board - $3
• Run Fight or Die: Zombie Cosplayer Promo Card - $3
• Shinobi WAT-AAH!: Saitenza Promo Card - $2
• Shipwrights of the North Sea: Garphill Games 5-Year Anniversary Promos - $5
• Space Base: Dreadnaught Pack - $10
• Space Freaks: Prophecy – The 19th Head Promo Card - $4
• Speechless: Dice Tower Promo Pack - $3
• Spell Smashers: Helm of Sponsorship - $5
• Star Realms: Promo Pack I - $5
• Subatomic: Stephen Hawking Promo Cards - $3
• Suburbia: Collector's Edition – The Dice Towers - $7
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shadows Of The Past – Fugitoid Promo - $4
• Terraforming Mars: BGG User-Created Corporation Pack - $4
• Time of Legends: Joan of Arc – Sam the Blacksmith Promo Card - $5
• Veggie Garden: Harvest Festival Expansion - $4
• Vikings Gone Wild: Dice of Destiny promo card - $5
• Vikings: The Board Game – Dice Tower Kickstarter 2016 Promo - $3
• Viral: Rampage Mutation Promo Card - $2
• Viral: Vaselitus Promo Card - $1
• Wazabi: Dice Tower 2017 Promo Pack - $1
• When I Dream: Bonus Cards - $3

[W]

• Cash/Paypal/Amazon
• Kingdom Death Monster
• Dogs of War
• Root and Expansions
• Great Western Trail: Rails to the North
• Russian Railroads Expansions
• Tumult
• First Contact
• Pax Transhumanity

Where do I even begin?
First of all, I understand the ‘tough’ love concept and sacrifices they have made for us. Yes, they left their Asian country to a new one, so we can have better lives. They brought their entire country’s cultures and customs with them though.
I was born in the West. My family was uneducated, very poor, but very hard-working. They worked in a factory making handbags working as long as 14 hours 6 days a week and half a day on Sunday. That was completely normal. When times were busy, they worked longer hours. They employed other Chinese workers, but they worked just as hard.
I moved schools quite a lot as a young child because they moved factories quite often. They were making fake handbags at one point. Gucci, Fendi, D&G. They received a warning from the police, yet they continued doing it. Yes, I was young. But I remember how the police taking away all the goods and machineries when we got busted. I was around 8-9.
Now, my father went to prison for this. I had to start working in the factory with my older siblings with my mum. My uncle was doing the heavy machinery stuff. The 5 of us were working together to make ends meet. Well, my uncle was just getting a pay check. My mum needed to pay for lawyer’s fees, rent, food, everything. There was so much on her shoulders. The extended family all turned blind when we most needed help. The uncle who was working for us was just getting paid, so why not right?! So, yeah, at the age of 10, I was working in a new factory and I was going to a new school once again. After elementary school, I’d take the bus to the factory and work until 9pm. As I got to middle school at age 11, I was working till late 10-11pm. Sometimes as late as midnight when there was more demand for handbags.
The ironic thing was in the 1st year, we were still making fake handbags when my father went to prison. This is because it was good money. My mum needed to make ends meet somehow. There were too many Chinese families making normal handbags for as little as €3 wholesale price back in the early 2000s. But fake goods were good sellers. It was risky, but we were lucky.
Now, yes my mum had a lot on her shoulders. This meant, she took her anger out on us (me and siblings). She vented out at us. I now I cannot remember what it was about, but there was a lot of emotional and physical abuse. I do remember one time when my brother and I were allowed to go and play football outside in the park one fine summer evening with some neighbourhood kids and then came back home, we got a beating. I don’t know why. But my mum gave us a beating.
Anyway, we eventually moved to normal handbags thanks to an auntie who had a wholesaler of handbags in London. We were purely supplying her with goods. So, we made enough money to pay for the lawyer’s fees. I would go to school during the day, finish at around 1pm. Middle school in that country was like that. Then work until late in the evening. Weekends consisted of visiting my father. Every week, there was some sort of abuse. But at the time, I didn’t see it as abuse. I thought it was normal.
When my father got out, I was about 12. My auntie in London didn’t need those handbags anymore, so guess what? Yes, back to fake goods. For fuck’s sake. Well, at least this time, they had a plan. My uncle left to work elsewhere. Anyway, we made them for a few months and sold all the heavy machineries. Now what where we doing? My parents went to work for another auntie in a nearby city who was making real goods. The biggest difference between real goods and fake goods is that you have a contractor that gives you the materials to create the handbags and official papers to officialise them. The end product is pretty much the same with minor, minor details. All made by Chinese people. So, yeah, they were working for my auntie, my older siblings went to work for my auntie as well. It was summer. So, they didn’t have school. As the youngest, I didn’t have to, in that regards, I was lucky. My grandparents moved in to look after me.
What was the plan? It was to work for 2 good months to make enough money to apply for visas, flights, etc. to enter the UK to begin yet again a new life. So, one day my father had the responsibility to take the around €700 to pay for visa applications at the embassy. Guess what? He went gambling instead and lost all the money. He had a heavy gambling addiction in the past as well as he was the bread winner before he went to prison. This addiction continued. My mum was furious. As she should be. My grandfather was ashamed and yelled at him. It was embarrassing. I was standing in the corner outside the door witnessing the entire thing. Luckily, they found a way to pay the for applications.
Growing up, I turned out to be quite impulsive and aggressive as a person. I ruined many good relationships because I didn’t have much emotional capacity in the sense that I wasn’t healthily expressing myself. Some kids express themselves in arts, hobbies, sports. As a result, they can communicate their thoughts, feelings and let out whatever they’re going through. I used to play football for a small club, but I had to stop that because I was working so much. I was either getting abused, working or in school. Yeah, middle school also sucked because I was getting bullied for being Chinese by a few classmates and amongst the Chinese group, I wasn’t so popular as I was from a lower ‘class’. My clothes were tattered and I never had money to buy a sandwich. So, during the break when everybody would take their fresh sandwich. I was starving and pretend I wasn’t hungry. Quite often I would ask for a piece. I was a beggar. It’s paradoxical because in elementary school at one of the other institutions I went to, I was giving out my sweet snacks to my classmates who didn’t have one. That was the time I was 8-9. In middle school, I didn’t have breakfast, didn’t have snack. The bus was ‘free’ because we never paid for it. You have to prepay and scan the ticket. If you don’t get caught, you’re good. So, yeah. I was very poor. I had €0.
For obvious reasons, my grades sucked. I rarely did homework and there was never a focus on education. Some other Chinese kids would skip school to go to Internet cafes to play MMOGs. Although, middle school was dull, I still went every day. Occasionally, I skipped to join other Chinese kids but to watch not play because I didn’t have any money. It was form of escapism to join a fantasy world. Other Chinese kids were going through hardships as well.
In short, I burst out in anger because because I inherited the impulsiveness from my parents, particularly, my father. He gets angry easily. I now have a mental condition. I think it’s because of my past, accumulated traumas. I’ve also been told that I’m useless constantly and it was better that I was not born by my mother. That was once again another moment of impulsiveness from my mother and said words she shouldn’t have said, at least not in my presence. I meditate to calm down. One time, my mother saw meditating and ordered me not to meditate because she thought was it was Falun Gong (it’s banned in China). I still meditate though. I have to or else I get very agitated.
Anyway, my parents first went to the UK. A year later my siblings and I joined them. New beginnings. I couldn’t wait to start a new life. I couldn’t speak a word of English. Let alone understand it. So, a day later upon arriving in the UK, guess what? I began working at the warehouse. Well, at least this time it wasn’t a factory. It was a wholesaler like my auntie in London. So, my job was to sell normal handbags. But you cannot speak English? How can you sell? Chinese can sell anything. They can sell your own house back to you haha. So, yeah. I didn’t mind. It wasn’t strenuous. It was only strenuous when the container arrived and we had to move those big boxes inside. They were heavy as shit. I did develop some strong biceps and triceps though. I turned 14 that summer. I started school almost a month later because we couldn’t find a public one that had space. So, I went to a private school. The money from the wholesaler was good. We could afford the fees. For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel lower class. I didn’t have tattered clothes. I had money to buy all the snacks I wanted. I didn’t need to beg my classmates for a bite. It felt nice.
Well, I went to a private school. There were a number of snobs there. The only thing I was made fun of was the area I was living in, not my ethnicity. I live in a rough area. It’s literally considered a shithole, full of criminals and immigrants from the Middle East. It’s close to the warehouse, so it’s convenient to live here. Anyway, my week consisted of going to school, warehouse, home on weekdays. Saturday spent at the mall with parents and siblings. Sunday at the warehouse. I wasn’t allowed hobbies. My mother is a control freak. She wants to choose the clothes I wear to the woman I marry. Even today. I rebelled because it was fucking stupid. I wear what I want to wear. It’s not like I was going out buttnaked. The thing that hurt most was that she made a remark how I didn’t have any friends as a teenager. That sting so much. I felt really lonely. How could you expect me to have friends when I wasn’t allowed to do anything? School-friends don’t count as you don’t hang out outside of school and I lived in a dodgy area. Anyway, I played lots of sports in school, so I could spend less time at the warehouse.
Every birthday in summer was lonely. I never had friends. It was just me and my family. I wasn’t even joyous celebrating my birthday. I just liked the food haha. In reality, I just wanted some friends to hang out and do teenage stuff.
At the warehouse and at home, there were constant verbal fights. One cannot stand the yelling for more than 2 minutes, but I got used to it. It was like a background noise. Remember, how my father had a gambling addiction? Yeah, he continued gambling at casinos. This time, with higher stakes from €€€ to ££££. So, when my mum would go to China for business, he was in charge of the warehouse. So, he would cash in all the revenue from the day. At the end of the day, he would go to the casino to gamble his life away. He didn’t even care about us. He would just drop us off at home and told us to make some food because he had to go out. It was like that for 10-14 days until my mum came back. She would get furious. It was the same story every time she went to China. Every night, I prayed for a divorce, so my mother, siblings and I could actually have a normal, fucking life. My father was physically abusive too. As my brother and so got bigger and stronger, we were going to protect my mother. I told my myself that if my father touched my mother again, I would fucking kill him. It’s dishonourable to beat your parents. I know that. That would be an exception. So, yeah, my father really didn’t give a flying shit about us. He would go out and gamble and live the so-called fast life. But the reality was that this fast life was destroying everything we have built. In total, he lost around £300,000. But it could be more. That was the revenue made from the business - cash. We had to make it up. The guy would drink and drive, gamble and leaves his 3 teenage kids at home. Yes, we weren’t little anymore, but at least take us out for some food or something. We were surviving on cheap, frozen pizzas like uni students.
So, I don’t have a relationship with my father. He’s selfish and just an alcoholic now. He was ‘able’ to cut his gambling addiction. First of all, my father didn’t have any money to gamble, that’s why. When my brother got older, he was in charge of the money, so he would take the cash, that’s why. Some people grow up without a father a wish they had one. Whereas, I grew up with one and I wish I didn’t have one. Because I don’t see him as a father figure. Obviously, I cannot tell what life would have been like without him. But he put us under so much stress. Weird analogy. But think of Mao Zedong, considered as a ‘hero’ in Mainland China by many people, yet they don’t realise the guy killed hundreds millions of people with his stupid fucking policies. Yet he’s idolised. Wouldn’t it be easier to say, it was better Mao never existed. Obviously I wouldn’t exist without my father, but remember how I prayed for a divorce. Yes, I wished my parents would have split up. So, I wouldn’t have to deal with his presence.
In Chinese culture, at least in my family, your age really matters, you can be super wise at 18 but because you’re 18, you’re stupid. But you can be 50 and be as dumb as a rock and considered super wise. Whenever, I suggested something to improve the business, it was immediately discarded. A few months later, my mother would say we should do that. For example, at 15 I suggested we should create a website, so our customers can buy from us online as well. The internet was becoming more widely accessible to everybody. The answer was ‘no’ again and again. Then, I was told I should create it. There was a shitty laptop at work, and I was told to create a website. Well, I actually tried. I had no idea what I was doing. It was paradoxical because I was told I was going to take over the business some day, and yet I found it very hard to work along my mother. She was the definition of a controlling, strict boss. Change was unwelcome. That’s why as the years passed by, competition for stiffer and we lost a lot of customers. Other businesses set up websites and had better services in general. I suggested these changes well in advance but they were discarded immediately. Once again, at 15, what do I know? Fair enough, but at least, listen to me. Make me feel listened.
This went on until I went to I went to uni. 1st year was great. Although, I was living at home, I still had a great time. I don’t know why I was being so considerate though. I could’ve gone anywhere in the UK. I had decent grades. Ever since coming to the UK, I focused on my studies. But I decided to study in the same city, so I could be ‘home’. I borrowed money from Student Finance to go to university. Yet, my mother tells everybody that she paid £9,000 a year to put me through university. A complete lie to make herself look good. It’s like a popularity contest on whose kids went to uni, where and how much they paid. Utterly stupid. I also borrowed living expenses money from Student Finance. Because I grew up very poor, I was very frugal with money, I saved up every penny. Going to uni meant I didn’t have to go to work, and I was enjoying the uni experience so much. So, in the 2nd year, I moved out. I saved up enough money to move out. I found out that many decisions are based financially. I asked my mother initially for permission which she said ‘no’ of course. But that didn’t matter because I had the money to move out. 2nd year was even better. Living alone with housemates, partying, hanging out with friends. Man, I had a blast. I rarely saw my parents and that was okay because I was happy not seeing them. Mostly happy about not hearing all the yelling and being surrounded by that toxicity.
My mother paid for my master’s degree though, I decided to go to an another EU country because it was 10x cheaper. She would brag to me about other Chinese kids going to top schools in London, and I was thinking “yes, I have a decent chance of getting in certain programmes as I have the experience and grades required, but you would be so hesitant to pay £20,000” + living expenses in London. It amounts to £35,000 per annum. Easy. She just pays lip service. I never told her this directly though. I just said, “it’s just too expensive in London, there are many good programmes in other EU countries too for more affordable prices”.
Anyway,
Where am I currently standing now? I don’t respect my father. I inherited a lot of negative traits from him, so I want to distance as much as possible from him. He yells and screams. I prefer peace and quiet. Today, I suffer from a mental condition and my father screamed at me because I had it. Wtf? Fuck off. I’m tired from all this toxicity. I don’t fucking need it. My mother is a control freak. She wants to get me married with somebody she knows. My past romantic relationships have all been ruined because of her. I haven’t had a girlfriend for years because I wanted to truly focus on myself find out the root causes of my character.
So, yeah, here’s the ‘short’ version. I just want to get a stable income, so I can get my own place and move out. I want to be far away from my father. I can still somewhat stand my mother. She can be very controlling. But I forgive her. She had so much on her shoulders, but she always had good intentions. We all have faults right. But my father, he can fuck off. The guy would go back to his old way if he had a chance to.
Don’t fall into the tough love non-sense. Toxicity is toxicity. Develop your own tough skin and look after your own mental well being.
Loving families have toxic moments here and there. Toxic families have loving moments here and there.
This is super important. It took me a while to figure it out. I’ve always been told that it’s tough love. But I realised it’s the latter. I live in a toxic family that have loving moments here and there.