private books

gbogo · Oct 13, 2006

what is most likely to happen to the private books?

by still opening to us clients and accepting both money and bets they are acting illegally.

by still accepting funds via obvious methods - neteller , eft transactions, credit cards they are creating paper trails directly to themselves and how they operate their business.

this will limit their time outside the radar in my opinion.

the question is what will be done to the book/owner by the government. at this point its hard to say.

what is smart is to protect yourself by the method of your personal funding/withdrawal and only send what you can afford to lose.

undercover agents is normally how the govt busts cases like this or figures out what to do - that takes 1-2 years before the warrants come out

so i think being realistic about these things is smart - because when a private book goes down it would be unlikely you get your money back.

my 2 cents

primetime21+ · Oct 13, 2006

These companies are outside the jurisdiction off the United States. American cannot enforce its laws upon these companies unless the owners are dumb enough to come to america for a vacation or business purposes. Only a handful of moron gambling operators have tried that and were arrested.

da1prophet · Oct 13, 2006

gbogo said:
what is most likely to happen to the private books?

by still opening to us clients and accepting both money and bets they are acting illegally.

by still accepting funds via obvious methods - neteller , eft transactions, credit cards they are creating paper trails directly to themselves and how they operate their business.

this will limit their time outside the radar in my opinion.

the question is what will be done to the book/owner by the government. at this point its hard to say.

what is smart is to protect yourself by the method of your personal funding/withdrawal and only send what you can afford to lose.

undercover agents is normally how the govt busts cases like this or figures out what to do - that takes 1-2 years before the warrants come out

so i think being realistic about these things is smart - because when a private book goes down it would be unlikely you get your money back.

my 2 cents

They've technically been operating illegally in the US for years.....remember that unless they do something stupid like plan a vacation in the US that there's not much our government can do. They're running a legal business in a foreign country. It's not "hard to say" what the government can do--as long as the relevant parties stay in Costa Rica or Antigua or wherever and out of the US our government can't do sh*t....

And its *very* important to remember that the Federal government is not going to wage all out war on offshore gaming. They'll pat themselves on the back over the fact that a number of books have already left the market. They simply don't have the mandate, the budget or the manpower to do it.

Quit spreading rumors and making idle speculation based on paranoia. No one outside of the industry cares half as much about online gambling as we seem to think they do...

O.C.Buckeye · Oct 13, 2006

Mind explaing to us just how the Hell these US Gov't "agents" are going to arrest these people? Fly down to Costa Rica, Jamaica, or England and walk in the sportsbook and slap the cuffs on them? What, do you really think any of these CEO's are going to make the mistake of having a layover in the US?

BTW..no where does it state in this new law that was passed that it's illegal to bet on sports over the internet.

:missingte :finger:

gbogo · Oct 13, 2006

thats the part your missing in my view

by saying that nothing can be done to them because they operate legally in a foreign country

however by assisting clients to transfer money in a country where it is illegal to them they are operating illegally and the question is how to prosecute them

my guess is it will be along the lines of tax violations.

so I wouldnt suggest its wise to think they are untouchable. i recognize your point..... however by leaving money trails to us clients left and right its only a matter of time before a new initiative is taken against these type of books.

da1prophet · Oct 13, 2006

gbogo said:
thats the part your missing in my view

by saying that nothing can be done to them because they operate legally in a foreign country

however by assisting clients to transfer money in a country where it is illegal to them they are operating illegally and the question is how to prosecute them

my guess is it will be along the lines of tax violations.

so I wouldnt suggest its wise to think they are untouchable. i recognize your point..... however by leaving money trails to us clients left and right its only a matter of time before a new initiative is taken against these type of books.

Again, they're under foreign jurisdiction....the Federal government would have to piss all over the entire concept of foreign soverignty to go after them and they've got much bigger reasons--like the entire concept of international trade--that means they won't do that...

This isn't much different than suggesting that the DoJ is going to waltz into a pachinko parlor in Tokyo and start arresting people. Its simply not going to happen. No one in the US government is going to risk a huge backlash from the international financial community to go after online gambling. It's just not that big a concern to anyone involved...

gbogo · Oct 13, 2006

Quit spreading rumors and making idle speculation based on paranoia.

my advice a week ago was to withdraw funds and wait till it became clearer how it would effect the books

i dont think that is spreading paranoia and im sure some people today wished they had it over again

fine to disagree with my logic/thinking but dont appreciate the above statement- think that time has proven me more correct than many

primetime21+ · Oct 13, 2006

And lets not forget that some of these companies operate in small countries that really need the taxes generated from these sportsbooks. They certainly aren't just going to hand them over the US government and lose out on all that money. not to mention the american government is about as unpopular as ever thanks to the republican party and GWB.

And this bill does not make it illegal for offshore books to take money from banks. It only addresses the banks side of the transaction. So i am not even sure this has any effect on these shops which is why most are staying in business.

gbogo · Oct 13, 2006

Again, they're under foreign jurisdiction....the Federal government would have to piss all over the entire concept of foreign soverignty to go after them and they've got much bigger reasons--like the entire concept of international trade--that means they won't do that...

the difference is they are not using the us financial system to make them money- and they are not paying taxes on the profits - so there is a much stronger technical case against them. whether it gets enforced is a different question as you say.

we agree to disagree i guess - ive made my point- enough from me

goodluck

da1prophet · Oct 13, 2006

gbogo said:
Quit spreading rumors and making idle speculation based on paranoia.

my advice a week ago was to withdraw funds and wait till it became clearer how it would effect the books

i dont think that is spreading paranoia and im sure some people today wished they had it over again

fine to disagree with my logic/thinking but dont appreciate the above statement- think that time has proven me more correct than many

The point is that its simply not going to affect any of the privately owned books. Some may choose to not do business with US clients on their own volition--though its telling that few have done so(Bet365 is one of the few private outfits that have given Americanos the boot). There's simply no precedent or legal mechanism for the Federal government to go after a legal business in a soverign country for any reason. There's just no basis to suggest otherwise. If there *was* they would be going after much bigger fish than offshore sportsbooks....

The online environment may be changing, but there are still plenty of options for US players to fund accounts and place bets. And with nearly 8 billion of cold hard cash on the table, there will be even more in the future.

If you're comfortable with the concept of offshore wagering to begin with--and I know some people aren't--there's nothing that has happened today, and particularly nothing that has happened to the best privately owned books like Pinny, CRIS and The Greek, to suggest that they're going anywhere any time soon or have any plans to lock out US clients. Why would they turn their back on what has to be an increase in their market share?