Skybet
- Thread starter Grey
- Start date
Because you are too shrewd......
G
Gearoid
Guest
Grey's gone and ruined it for the whole of Belgium. Why you greedy so and so...
Change of law maybe.
http://www.egrmagazine.com/
is a useful site if you are interested in that type of stuff.
http://www.egrmagazine.com/
is a useful site if you are interested in that type of stuff.
G
Gearoid
Guest
Fair play Will, I couldn't find anything. Grey do ynu use Skybet that much? I'm sure you could find away around it.
Thanks, Will, I didn't find anything on your link, but further searching shows that you were on the right track.
A new law which came into effect at the start of the year requires operators offering online betting services to Belgian residents to be licenced by the Belgian authorities. Fair enough.
However, operators can only obtain licences if they already have "land-based operations" (bricks and mortar betting shops, in other words) in Belgium, and locate the server for their Belgian transactions in a permanent establishment in Belgium.
This legislation is completely daft, and the Belgian authorities are likely to lose the challenge to it already introduced by gaming operators in the European Court of Justice. Until the case is decided, however, other operators might follow Skybet's prudent example and abandon their Belgian clients for the time being.
A new law which came into effect at the start of the year requires operators offering online betting services to Belgian residents to be licenced by the Belgian authorities. Fair enough.
However, operators can only obtain licences if they already have "land-based operations" (bricks and mortar betting shops, in other words) in Belgium, and locate the server for their Belgian transactions in a permanent establishment in Belgium.
This legislation is completely daft, and the Belgian authorities are likely to lose the challenge to it already introduced by gaming operators in the European Court of Justice. Until the case is decided, however, other operators might follow Skybet's prudent example and abandon their Belgian clients for the time being.
I would like to think so. Suggestions are welcome.
On The Bridle
At the Start
Move.......?? I'm sure for the value Skybet offer it would be worth it!!:lol::lol: Not providing the "idiot insurance" as G calls it is a big drawback for me with them although I still use them.
G
Gearoid
Guest
I rarely use them but I've never once had a bet with them where I thought it would drift! I've never had a touch with them though. Have you anyway of using an Irish address Grey?
My credit cards, e-mail and IP addresses are all Belgian. I could find a way around the first two obstacles but the third one might be a complete roadblock. If anyone knows different I would be glad to hear from them, by pm if necessary. 
Skybet wouldn't be my busiest account but it's one of my luckier ones. They sometimes stick their necks out and go long about particular horses. If I am confident a horse I fancy is not going to drift, it's good to have them as an option.
Skybet wouldn't be my busiest account but it's one of my luckier ones. They sometimes stick their necks out and go long about particular horses. If I am confident a horse I fancy is not going to drift, it's good to have them as an option.
Irish Stamp
Forum Moderator
There are ways around the IP address too Grey don't worry about that. I'm not certain exactly how to but I'm sure there are people on here who know about re-routing IP addresses and the like.
You can change your payment source to Western Union or such if you're currently betting off Belgian registered debit cards.
Where there's a will there's a way as they say.
France has banned offshore bookmakers too and the legislation in Bulgaria and Hungary is changing too whilst Russia have changed the way they tax betting offices in recent years (more times than I care to mention in fact) so it's not just punters in Belgium who will be having issues, that said British and Irish punters are probably the most clued up in Europe thanks to the competitive nature of the market place.
Martin
You can change your payment source to Western Union or such if you're currently betting off Belgian registered debit cards.
Where there's a will there's a way as they say.
France has banned offshore bookmakers too and the legislation in Bulgaria and Hungary is changing too whilst Russia have changed the way they tax betting offices in recent years (more times than I care to mention in fact) so it's not just punters in Belgium who will be having issues, that said British and Irish punters are probably the most clued up in Europe thanks to the competitive nature of the market place.
Martin
Sheikh
At the Start
Grey
If everyone in Europe where to follow suit would this fix the problem with bookmakers moving offshore to avoid paying betting tax ?
You can get a temp IP addresses from a website.
If everyone in Europe where to follow suit would this fix the problem with bookmakers moving offshore to avoid paying betting tax ?
You can get a temp IP addresses from a website.
If everyone were to follow suit, Sheikh, nobody could have a bet with an operator which does not have physical installations - shops and a server - in the Member State in which they are living. So yes, it would remove the incentive for bookmakers to move offshore.
On the other hand, can you imagine if the same restriction were to apply to the likes of Amazon or i-Tunes, and the only online operations from which I could order books in English, or music by Irish musicians, had to have a physical presence in Belgium? It goes against the principle of the single market, freedom of choice and personal liberty.
It is a reasonable requirement that an operation taking bets from Belgian clients has to be licenced by the Belgian authorities. In this way the Belgian authorities can ensure co-operation in the collection of whatever taxes they wish to impose, but to insist on a physical presence in Belgium is over the top.
Sheikh
At the Start
I think the law could be changed so that where a physical product is sold the company would be exempt.
Perhaps the Belgian legislation is a way around another issue.
Perhaps the Belgian legislation is a way around another issue.
So, Sheikh, you think it's ok for them to prevent me from having a bet with an Irish or UK bookmaker on Irish and UK racing?
In any case the definition of a physical product is no longer self evident in the electronic age. Is an e-book or an mp3 file a physical product? In what way does an electronic train ticket differ from a betting docket?
The Belgians claim to be more interested in having full control over online gambling for moral reasons rather than to maximise revenue from a betting tax. They see gambling as morally corrosive, a corrupting influence on sporting events, and an opportunity for fraud and money laundering. The rules of the single market allow Member States to impose restrictions on competition for reasons of morality and public order. A licencing requirement allowing for disclosure of relevant data to the appropriate authorities seems perfectly reasonable, but requiring a bricks and mortar presence in each country where an operator takes online bets is Luddite.
In any case the definition of a physical product is no longer self evident in the electronic age. Is an e-book or an mp3 file a physical product? In what way does an electronic train ticket differ from a betting docket?
The Belgians claim to be more interested in having full control over online gambling for moral reasons rather than to maximise revenue from a betting tax. They see gambling as morally corrosive, a corrupting influence on sporting events, and an opportunity for fraud and money laundering. The rules of the single market allow Member States to impose restrictions on competition for reasons of morality and public order. A licencing requirement allowing for disclosure of relevant data to the appropriate authorities seems perfectly reasonable, but requiring a bricks and mortar presence in each country where an operator takes online bets is Luddite.
Sheikh
At the Start
If you where a Belgian and they where being denied Tax yes I think it's reasonable.
Point is Bookies don't sell a product .
I just find it interesting as we discussed before the possibility of gaining outright control of race betting in order to fund racing properly through the tote like the French and Aussies do. The Belgians approach might knock the opposition out of the market withough breaking EU monopoly laws or force the bookies to set up in Belgium where they can be properly taxed and monitored
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Bar the Bull
At the Start
I think that they do. I think that insurance is a product, and I think it is fair to make the assumption that bookies sell a product, too.