Thanks.
1. I think Theymos did right by banning Matthew from posting (I enjoyed MNW's posts but had no idea about the bet case), yet at the same time allowing him to send and receive PMs.
2. Ability to receive PMs and replying to them is essential for Matthew to communicate with his creditors (people he has financial liabilities towards) and essential for his creditors to reach him.
3. As soon as Matthew reaches settlements with all the creditors and pays them, the ban may be lifted.
He didn't get banned for that bet, he got banned for his "troll messages"/trolling.
I see people who have scammed being here in the forums as Hero members without any tags, just carrying a little neg rating from theymos. For example bulanula who scammed over 22 bitcoins, had scammer tag for a while..