In response:
I get them regularly and besides, the US is CR number ONE commercial partner........we get most of our imports from there and that's where most of our exports go, if we couldnt receive wires from the US .........things here would be a LOT different
Accoring to National City Costa Rica is on the list - maybe it is just an advice list and not the banned list. I do not know as I do not work at the bank.
I do know that every book I've ever wired too in CR has made me go through an intermediate in Canada or England. Books in Canada, Australia, England, and Antigue do not use an intermediate.
Do your wires go through an intermediate bank???
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One thing that occurs to me is if this legislation passes, how many books will simply refuse to accept US customers. I know that without US customers most books will fail anyway but some may reduce overhead, costs, etc. and focus on non-US players.
None or very close to none. Books set up offshore because they knew they were illegal. You can not make them more illegal. Books set up offshore in the Caribbean to target Americans and will continue. As long as 110 is bigger than 100, they will be continuing.
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One thing I have not heard anybody in this thread mention however is that the first thing banks will do (it seems to me) is cease doing business with Neteller, Firpay, etc. That move, in and of itself, will cause a real inconvenience to gamblers. Of course, I agree there a ways around it but we should expect this action to occur quickly if legislation passes.
First of all this would require another law as these services/banks do not offer gambling. The government would have to pass another law stating you can not send money to a processor who might send money to a sportsbook. These services are used for other purposes as well.
Without an additional law, banks are not gonna add to the list they are supposed to block.
Additionally, Neteller set up in 4 countries for a reason. If the US tries to block them, Neteller will likely open and close new bank accounts making it impossible.
If Neteller decides not to do this, there will be 10 new companies to replace neteller. When paypal stopped taking bettors, we got neteller, swiftpay, firepay, 900 whatever, moneybookers, egold, and prob 5 others.
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Also, I haven't figured out exactly what we will do if eventually ISP's are forced to block internet access to books. That will be a real problem for the average players. Just my two cents.
Good luck.
Books will move their IP every day if need be. They could even automate it to move their IP and send you an email every day with the new link.
If that somehow got blocked, books would offer 800 number ISPs offshore.
China has tried to block content for years and has failed at a lot of it and this content has not been actively trying to avoid them.
10 years ago, if I told you in 5 years you could not use a credit card to place a wager, you'd laugh at me and tell me the internet gambling community is doomed. It will never be doomed. As long as millions will travel to Vegas to gamble, people will figure out ways to do it from their living room.
The law we need to be concerned about is if they criminilize the act of placing a bet.
If the US government decided to spend $100 Billion dollars, they might be able to block 25% of online gambling.
-Sean