Posts by electricwolf21

So, I finally got a response back from the higher-ups over at BetMGM!!

Dear Client,

Yeah, we’re totally accepting players from the US right now. Just keep in mind, though, that Pinnacle Sports is licensed by the government of Curacao.

Since every state throughout The World Has different laws , IT is not possible for Pinnacle Sports to give you any advice regarding whether online gambling is actually legal where you live.

If you want the real scoop on the rules in your specific area, I guess you should probably just reach out to your local government offices or maybe talk to a lawyer who knows their stuff.

..so basically, it sounds like they couldn't care less about our local laws or anything!! 🙂

ruggedpilot5 said:They might all have five-star ratings, but I guess you really gotta ask how they'd handle things if the US government suddenly demanded access to player registries or specific user data...

I mean, I don't think they owe the US any explanations, since they're busy reporting everything to places like Malta, Gibraltar, or whatever other tax havens exist out there. You really should just sit down and read their terms of service carefully; I did my own digging on PayPal and found out that a third party doesn't have—and honestly, probably never will have—any way to peek into a user's account details.

Michael Morgan5 said:Honestly, if you're tech-savvy enough to set up an online account and actually understand how things like NordVPN, a Proxy, or PayPal work, then you probably already know that guys like Lalovac and his crew can just screw you over whenever they feel like it.

The only thing that used to worry me was the offshore sportsbooks.

Now? Not even that. 😁

..but hey, I guess we’re just wired that way, always finding some loophole to rip someone off for our own benefit—which is something we definitely learned from our politicians!! ☕

Michael Morgan5 said:Or to be more specific, can I just find a resident of a normal EU country who’ll open an account for me, and then I just connect through a proxy from their country later on?

So, I’ve already messed around with the NordVPN app on my phone and honestly, it works like a charm. But I guess that only really matters if they force our local providers to block access to foreign sportsbooks, provided those bookies don't decide to just wash their hands of us players entirely.
Regarding deposits and withdrawals, I'd stick to PayPal or even just using a PayPal Mastercard, because if you look at the terms, it clearly states that a third party will never have access to the account. Plus, even the big American betting sites use PayPal, so I don't see much of an issue there.
The only real headache would be if the bookies decide to stop taking—or worse, cancel accounts for—American players, which is something I’ve personally felt the sting of before when dealing with DraftKings. For me, the main thing is just making sure they don't mess with BetMGM or maybe bet365 regarding any of this stuff... But I guess if someone is really determined to stay in the game, they'll easily find someone they trust in another country to run an account and keep things moving with VPN services without any drama.
Anyway, that's just my take on the whole situation, I suppose. We're basically just sitting here waiting to see what the government decides to do next.

ruggedpilot5 said:btw, has anyone thought about asking one of those big-name online sportsbooks what they actually think about all this mess?

So I went ahead and reached out to Pinnacle—since I guess they’re pretty much the only legit sportsbook worth mentioning—and here’s the kind of response I got..

Dear Customer,

Just wanted to let you know that, as far as we're aware, we are still taking on clients from the US.

Keep in mind things might shift, but we've passed your message along to the right folks over in the relevant department to look into it.

William Ruiz12 said:If I’m reading this notice correctly, I think they’re planning to track us via IP address rather than looking at our actual payouts, since they’ve banned betting on foreign sites within the US. So, theoretically, we can bet from other countries, just not while we're physically sitting on American soil, if I've got that right.
Anyway, it’s a total disaster. Honestly, people should just walk away from betting altogether; let them shut everything down and call it a day. Let them lose everything since they're being so greedy, especially with another thousand people already struggling on the stock market.
If anyone actually knows what's going on, please fill me in.

For example, I might theoretically have money sitting in a sportsbook from five years ago before all this stuff became illegal—or better yet, back when I snagged a voucher from a local bookie through a newspaper promo—and now I've just got those funds sitting there, and whenever I feel like watching a live game, I'll just log in and watch without actually placing a bet.

I mean, if they’re really going to base this on IP addresses, then they might as well just block every single ISP providing service in the US, and then we'll all just have to find a way around it. As it stands, though, I suspect it’s actually the bank accounts under scrutiny—specifically the ones handling major payouts, and believe me, there are plenty of people doing that, otherwise these local bureaucrats wouldn't be whining and leaning on the IRS about these operations!!

It would be a lot smarter if they spent their time auditing the private companies in our country that pay workers under the table and steal from the government just as blatantly; online sportsbooks aren't the problem here, it's just that the people in charge are incompetent and clueless!

Bradley Lewis59 said:Does anyone actually know what this "increased surveillance" even looks like in practice?

Anyway, that Gambling Act has been active for two years now, and honestly, nobody really knows how they actually carry out these audits. I mean, those bureaucrats are probably just busy being corrupt and enjoying their long weekend right now.🙂

Once they slapped those taxes on the local brick-and-mortar sportsbooks, revenue absolutely tanked because basically every serious player just moved online. In my opinion, the only way they can actually track you down is if you start moving massive amounts of money from overseas into one of our domestic bank accounts—and I’m talking about the heavy hitters who are pulling in $$0.00 or more every single month. It’s pretty much the same deal as downloading pirated movies; if you're moving big enough numbers, you’re going to look suspicious and end up under a microscope. But hey, that’s just my take, and frankly, I really hope that's how it works.

So, just watch how you move your cash into this ridiculous country!!

I don't even know what to say at this point, other than mac09 is clearly an industry plant—just one of those people secretly rooting to see those of us making a decent living from online betting lose our livelihoods. I guess the government is just too incompetent and clueless to figure this out on their own, so they’re basically being lobbied by the local big-time bookmakers who are seeing their revenue tank. All they have left are those local losers dropping maybe $3.25 bucks a day at some corner shop, which obviously isn't going to fund their luxury lifestyles like it used to before all these extortionate taxes kicked in. There's nothing to do but wait and see what kind of mess this pathetic administration cooks up next; honestly, they've already driven thousands of young people to leave the country, and if you ask me, they're stuck in the past while the rest of the world moves on. Man, it's actually embarrassing to call myself a citizen of this absolute joke of a country.