Irish revised online gambling laws - Casino's not welcoming Irish players anymore.

[lotusch]

Hi all,

I see an ongoing trend where online casino's (established ones and new ones) not accepting players from Ireland anymore.
Can some casino reps shed a bit more light on this?
I have done some research myself and I found that the laws and regulations regarding online gambling in Ireland have been revised somewhere in 2012.

A small and interesting article about this can be read below. Got it from a sollicitor website.

Every country has its own gambling laws. Ireland is no exception. In the last number of years, however, online gambling has exploded in popularity. Various international gambling sites operate in Ireland via the internet. Such sites are generally known as remote operators. The difficulty is that Irish registered bookmakers pay tax in Ireland whereas foreign based online sites, on a whole, do not. The Irish Government has now proposed to balance this situation with the introduction of the Betting (Amendment) Bill 2012. Under this proposed new law, stricter controls on licensing issues will apply to all remote sites with the District Court having the power to make any Order necessary to block a particular unlicensed site. This new reaching law will have a strong effect on all Internet Service Providers going forward.

Clarke Jeffers provide specialist advice relating to the new licensing laws and the impacts on Internet Service Providers. We are also in a position to advise on the obtaining of relevant licences and representation at any Court Hearing where site blocking is proposed.

At Clarke Jeffers we provide advice to Internet Service Providers, online gambling sites, Domestic Bookmakers and individuals.

Specialist Areas include:

• Online gaming and gambling
• Gaming and leisure activities
• Casino and poker operations
• Pool betting
• Irish Betting (Amendment) Bill 2012
• Court representation for legislative breaches
• Remote bookmakers operation in the jurisdiction of Ireland
• Licensing applications
• Regulatory compliance
• Sports betting and corruption
• Advertising restrictions and sponsorship arrangements
• Anti-money laundering issues
• Intellectual property
• List Of Legal Services

Now,I assume online casino's have to abide to all laws in any country they offer their services.
So what I would like to know is, what has changed that it makes casino's want to pull out of Ireland.
Just as a simple example, in the UK everything seems to be regulated very strictly yet still every casino wants a UK license.

Is it just simple figures,more players in UK thus more profit thus we want to do business there?
Less players in Ireland,casino's have to pay too much taxes or other revenue based monies and thus not interesting for us anymore.

The reason why I am asking all of this is because I still miss playing at the best casino online ever (In my modest opinion).
GUTS was my home,the casino I would always come back to and I may say I was a very loyal and often returning customer.
Ben and his team are for me still an exquisit example of how you run a casino and how to treat your loyal customers.
Now GUTS has a sister casino named Rizk Casino and it already got raving comments.
Went to their website yesterday,very happy to make an account and become a customer but I stumbled across the same problem,Irish players are not accepted.
Up to 3/4 years ago I was never ever rejected at any online casino as an Irish resident.

Are there just not enough Irish (potential) players that make it well worth for a casino to apply for a license?
Because at the end of the day it all is about the money,how much revenue can we make.
That is completely fine by me,but then my dear casino's be fair and square about it.

Now all I get is,unfortunately at this time due to some problems/issues/laws blablabla we are not able to accept you as an Irish resident.

I am customer with a few CM accredited casino's but I would trade all these accounts back in a heartbeat just to be able to play at GUTS again.

I am not saying these casino's are bad but they are far from as good as GUTS i.m.h.o.
The biggest difference is the very personal approach that GUTS has with his customers.
I feel like a welcome guest where at other casino's I am just a number and a personal approach is not something they strive to have with their players.

And Irish Casino's? Paddy Power / Boyle Sports etc etc... Meh,not my cup of tea.

Thanks for reading and I really do hope casino's like GUTS/Rizk and Videoslots (another casino I'd love to try) will also embrace their Irish players anytime soon IF it is even in their scope for the future.

Let's hope so!


Mark.

 

[mac72]

You shouldn't have bothered with all that independence malarky.Us boyos in the north can play pretty much where we like

 

[lotusch]

You shouldn't have bothered with all that independence malarky.Us boyos in the north can play pretty much where we like

LOL
I am not even Irish mate,I do live and work here but I am 100% Dutch.
Also I live like 5 miles from the N-I border and was banned last year at some Novomatic casino's as they recognised my IP as a UK IP address.
So I changed that at work and I am fine now.

Maybe I should stick to a UK IP address again and I would be able to play at mentioned casino's.

 

[Dinahnana]

I don't get why casinos like Guts don't get an Irish license. The law can't be that much different to the U.K. one. We may have a small population here but we do spend quite a lot. According to one site we spend €5b a year gambling so I think that it would make sense to get an Irish license. I too loved Guts and the sister sites and am quite peeved that I can't play there. Give me back Guts please......

 

[lotusch]

Well I was able to play at GUTS for a long time and all of a sudden I was told my account would be closed as they stopped their business for Irish players.
And indeed osulle,Irish are very fanatic gamblers/punters and the market here is big.
There is a bookie at any village with more than 3 houses while a hospital that is actually in service might not be available for 100 miles,just to show the difference here.

I see some reps have read this thread and I kindly invite you to give some feedback on my thread.
Would be much appreciated!
I am just trying to understand what is going on.

Mark.

 

[syntynyt]

if is a stand alone institution that regulates online gambling didnt they should have an website to show whitelist/blacklist and costs and terms for obtaining a license? my take is that the cost is exorbitant and maybe active casinos should pay retroactive debts from the previous years when they still took irish players being not feasible taking years to cover the cost. i miss playing at guts for similar reasons.

 

[Dinahnana]

if is a stand alone institution that regulates online gambling didnt they should have an website to show whitelist/blacklist and costs and terms for obtaining a license? my take is that the cost is exorbitant and maybe active casinos should pay retroactive debts from the previous years when they still took irish players being not feasible taking years to cover the cost. i miss playing at guts for similar reasons.

I am not a 100% clear on the new regulations but hey this is Ireland where bureaucracy rules and things are very convoluted but the new regulations took effect this year and I don't think that they were retroactive but I could be wrong. As I said this is Ireland where everything is totally screwed up if you ask me.

 

[lotusch]

So left it a few days and the casino's that don't accept Irish players did read the topic but still did not help and give a wee explanation?
Would have hoped to get some response on this but apparently it is not important enough.

 

[vinylweatherman]

The UK went through something similar with many old favourites suddenly becoming unavailable. It was just as hard to get a consistent explanation as to why some just walked away, some mucked around and screwed the UK players they had over by giving no information and then shutting accounts mid-promo without notice. Others deliberately gave false reassurances and then ditched us right at the last minute without warning, again mid-promo and with balances that could no longer be withdrawn by the usual method. It was all driven by UK laws that were still some months away from coming into force at the time some casinos booted their UK players.

It's similar now in Ireland, the laws are coming into force this year, but casinos are already running for the exit. What isn't clear is what happens now. In the UK there have been plenty of new casinos stepping in to fill the gap and work under the new UK licensing laws. It just means that the UK player has lost the ability to make their own choices from the entirety of what is on offer.

Both are a contrast to the situation in the US where casinos were doing their best to circumvent the rules rather than obey them, even to the extent of engaging in money laundering through deliberately miscoded transactions, and making up false cover stories for the withdrawals paid back to players. From the government point of view, the UK and much of EU did something right in drafting the laws that the US got wrong, which has lead to casino operators generally abiding by the laws in the EU rather than seeking to circumvent them. The most obvious difference is that the US went for blanket prohibition, whereas the UK and EU accepted the legitimacy of the activity, but sought to licence and tax it within the country from which the players played.