If you read the previous article about this unofficial Minecraft convention, you’ll know that Mineorama was a large convention to happen in New York in mid-July. That is, until the organizers canceled the entire convention 5 days before the date. Raking in half a million in ticket sales, quite the large number of fans, and even a few acclaimed YouTubers, were set and ready to make their way to the convention. Now, it seems, they’re without a refund, and the promised rescheduling of the event is not going to happen.
Minecraft Mineorama – Walking Away with $500k
Before getting to the ridiculous amounts of money made off of the tickets, let’s take a look at the Mineorama Twitter page. Once again, as said in the previous article, their Twitter handle was taken by a 16-year-old who pokes fun at the organizers’ failed attempt at a convention. She has recently uploaded a video to YouTube explaining that she is in no way affiliated with Mineorama, and therefore cannot give refunds. In the same video, she tells us that the organizers of the unofficial con have seemed to have completely disappeared. Their Twitter was renamed to “Asdxadssax” before being entirely deleted. With the official Mineorama Twitter gone, that leaves Lou Gasco’s Twitter, Gasco being the “Executive Producer” of the con, as the next place to turn. However, he hasn’t been active since July 8th. King Jo Jo, the other affiliated with Mineorama, has not said anything on his Twitter about the cancellation of the unofficial Minecraft convention. So, naturally, one would turn to the only place left: the official website. Hm. Too bad it’s conveniently down.
Great, so they’re walking away with half a million dollars. How’d they manage that? Well, Gasco also owns a non-for-profit company called The Greatest Science Fair Ever, also known as TGSFE. It’s mission is to apparently inspire kids to have an interest in science, math, engineering, and technology. The funny thing? If you take a look at TGSFE’s website (www.tgsfe.net), it’s also down. It seems Gasco may have been running expenses through this non-for-profit and receiving tax write-offs. I myself am not legally adept, and cannot explain how exactly Gasco hid behind his non-for-profit to make off with $500k, but the video below, uploaded to YouTube by Bebop Vox YOGSCAST, explains quite well how such a thing occurred.
At $150 per ticket, with the additional $50 for an all night LAN party, it’s no wonder so much money was made. As explained in the video below, in the Mineorama apology it is stated that they sold over 3,000 tickets. The strange thing is that five months prior to that statement, Gasco told Forbes that “about [tickets sold] 1,800 over a period of a few weeks,” and then after working with the NYC Department of Education, “they sold another 5,500 tickets.” Huh. 7,300 tickets sold from what Gasco told Forbes, but in their apology only 3,000 tickets sold? That’s quite a few tickets unaccounted for.
The whole thing is extremely sketchy, and I have to say, it doesn’t seem those refunds are going to happen on their own. If you bought a ticket to Mineorama, please fight for your refund. It’s awful to think these people should be able to get away with such a scam. If you bought a ticket and you’re unsure of what to do, or if you’d like to see how the $500k Mineorama scam happened, watch the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-LIDdYm1uw