Your Input Please Casinos accepting players from restricted countries: responsibility issue

[Fleur-De-Lis]

Hi all,

Some of us are residing in the countries which frown upon or outright forbid online gambling (f.eg., the country I've been living in for the last 15 years currently forbids all forms of online gambling except sports betting), yet we still manage to find a venue or two to play our favourite slots. We know that there are casinos, accredited and/or not, that accept players from such 'restricted' locations like mine. I have no idea what could be casinos' motivation to do so, or whether they violate any laws by doing it, and, to be honest, I don't care much about either. I guess, it all is quite complicated. Anyway... here is the issue I want your input on: let's say, I decide to sign up at a certain accredited casino. Before doing so, I contact the Support and ask if they accept players from my location. They say 'yes'. In other words, at the time of signup both myself and the casino are aware of the existing restrictions yet are willing to overlook them, apparently because I like to play and because the casino likes my money. So I sign up and deposit, playing to my heart's content as any other player. I remain an active player for two or three years, and then one day I find my account blocked. The reason for blocking is that 'you are from restricted country', although there's nothing new about this and it was already explicitly discussed at the time of signup.

I do not mean to complain or seek advice on how to proceed by posting this - I just want an input from people who may know or understand how the system works. I mean, I *know* what makes a player to sign up and deposit. But *what* makes a casino to accept or kick out a player from restricted country? If any consequences are entirely a player's responsibility, then maybe we are the best kind of customers - the ones who are free to deposit and lose, but also the ones who can be denied any winnings or kicked out at any moment? Does anybody know about casinos' internal procedures and policies that regulate dealing with 'restricted countries' customers? Any informed opinions will be much appreciated!

 

[Jono777]

Not a lot of experience of this however some knowledge gained from past / reading similar threads.

In a nutshell my opinion would be that 'They cannot have their cake and eat it!'

IE: They either stick to the Geo location rules and don't allow you to play from the start OR they risk prosecution (or whatever the procedure is) and continue as they have done in the past and allow you as a player.

My take (and I could be totally wrong, just an opinion based on what I've read over the years/months) on this is that they should not have allowed you to play from day one and refund any deposits taken up to the point of closing your account / banning your play.

 

[Fleur-De-Lis]

Many thanks for your input!
Off-topic: ironically, I have dual citizenship (i.e. two valid passports and two residential addresses in two different countries), and BOTH these countries do not allow online gambling. That's why I ALWAYS contact casino support and ask if they want me as before signing up. Regretfully, it seems that it doesn't always help

 

[brianmon]

There's a CM Accredited casino, I regularly play at, who don't have a UKGC license.

I don't know if they still accept UK players, or they just didn't bother blocking the existing one's (I joined long before the UKGC came about)

The only problems I have playing there is that MGS games are GEO-blocked and I can't deposit via Neteller.
Other than that I have had no problems with withdrawals or anything else

 

[spintee]

The way I see t is your taking a risk if playing, One minute it could be ok by the casino than like you said acount blocked, But the block could be for a number of reasons, Eiter your country has said to the provider stop it or we take action,

Its like the U.K, we had no regulations, Any casino could open up and we could play, Until the government got there dirty hands in the dirty pie and wanted some of the cash, Now what they have done ist otld sites such as skrill to stop payments to sites that have not got a U.K licence,

Skrill could say up yours, But than the Goverment would just ban Skrill from the U.K,

We can play sites that have not got a licence but the casino is taking the risk due to not having the U.K licence,

 

[Fleur-De-Lis]

Thanks for your replies.
There's some development to the story: it looks like something has happened behind the curtains and at least three other casinos I used to play regularly at blocked my country this week. None of these three informed me neither beforehand or after they did it - I had to find it out hard way, when attempting to login. Looks like I have no other option but to resort to land-based casinos across the border... which is a shame. Anybody knows of any alternative options to play from a restricted country and remain legit?

P.S. I have just contacted another (accredited) casino I play at occasionally, and questioned if they plan to block me anytime soon due to my location. The Live Help rep couldn't respond at once and promised to get back to me later.

P.P.S. I have contacted a new (accredited) casino I never played at, told them where I live and asked if I could sign up from my country, they said 'yes'. Help, I am totally confused now

 

[t4llek]

Thanks for your replies.
There's some development to the story: it looks like something has happened behind the curtains and at least three other casinos I used to play regularly at blocked my country this week. None of these three informed me neither beforehand or after they did it - I had to find it out hard way, when attempting to login. Looks like I have no other option but to resort to land-based casinos across the border... which is a shame. Anybody knows of any alternative options to play from a restricted country and remain legit?

P.S. I have just contacted another (accredited) casino I play at occasionally, and questioned if they plan to block me anytime soon due to my location. The Live Help rep couldn't respond at once and promised to get back to me later.

P.P.S. I have contacted a new (accredited) casino I never played at, told them where I live and asked if I could sign up from my country, they said 'yes'. Help, I am totally confused now

i think its a matter of time until everyone is regulated, my only problem is i live in a place where the powerhouses wont come because of the high tax rate on online gambling, the player base is not gona be big enough for all the big operators to make a profit, so ill just either go to land based(not in a million years 70% rtp fuck them) or gona play in the shitty ones that are regulated here, no netent, no wms no nothing really, just a shit show, and why because of the greedy politicians, instead of looking at the big picture no, its just about lets get as much as we can in the fastest way possible.