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For a company that included in its various operations, a gambling management firm and a gambling supply company, it would seem that TSG would have done a better job of calculating the odds, or at least hedged its bets. It is this very point that suggests that things don't quite add up and that there is considerably more to this story then a businessman who just took a chance and went to far.

Though it is easy to speculate about the causes of this repeating situation, we have to also wonder if the business climate and dreams of becoming Bill Gates is somehow coming into play. In every case these "business crash and burn" scenarios always involve government and banking. The rules of the "so-called" free market economy are broken and natural consequences are delayed, making the fall much larger and more profound than it should have been, had the laws of nature been involved. The public seems always to become the ultimate victim and the trusting employees are sacrificed as dreams vanish into bankruptcy lawyer's pockets.

There is no ultimate bad guy, Peter Pockington though a sometimes unscrupulous fellow, was always playing by the rules of the game and the politicians were always there with a bag of money, or their hand out for a contribution. Michael Shamray was able to garner the trust of the Manitoba business community because his Schmidtke Millworks not only was a dandy of a company, but it was producing first rate products that were innovative and in demand in the market place. Based on that established reputation and sizable amounts of undisclosed sources for capital, the TSG company took shape, then on Friday crumbled.

The final chapter in the Shamray collision with economic reality is yet to be written. For the five still operating companies of the empire, it is a time for negotiations with investors and the beneficence of the short term lenders, to see if they will be able to keep their businesses running and the creditor's wolf from the door.