Playtech Pulls out of Canada, Netherlands and Finland

[vinylweatherman]

//DERAIL//

When did this take place? Dec 4th the Intercasino rep announced a hamper contest for new members signing up through CM. It's been quite a while since I've played, and I haven't received any notification.

I did try to log into my account (which I've not used in some time) after reading VWM statement, and I get a message "We are upgrading your casino to a newer version. We hope to see you soon in our new and exciting casino product".

It's been months since I've played Intercasino, so I have no idea how long it's been like that.

This was the Intercasino pull out from the US some time ago. There have been worries since that they would do the same to Canadian players, but it didn't happen. It was also a pull out dictated by the software supplier, and ALL casinos using Cryptologic software had to pull out of the US. It was easy to tell it was a forced pull out because right up to the day of the pull out, the operators had no idea what was going on, and players were getting messed around because part of the system (the bonus claiming mechanism) had already been switched off centrally a couple of days beforehand.

Other softwares HAVE pulled out of Canada, some even saying the decision was "due to UIGEA". We now have the initial Playtech pull out. It's software lead because it is the Playtech owned (via a shady set of tax avoidance structures) casinos that have shut down to Canadians. There is a strong case for expecting Playtech to follow this by requiring all it's licensees to pull out of Canada at some future date. It may happen when licenses are up for renewal, as doing it right away could leave Playtech open to "breach of contract" claims from independent licensees. They would not be able to claim they were forced out by a sudden recent legislative change in Canada, which is probably a clause they have written into the contracts, and which can also be found in the terms and conditions players sign up to.

There are even signs that Moneybookers might be on the way out of Canada, even though unlike Neteller, they have no presence there.

The bigger problem for players is that they cannot rely much on the "we currently have no plans to pull out of <insert country here>", as this is simply the standard stock response, used regardless of the actual situation. This has been trotted out just as liberally by those operators that DID then pull out without prior notice to players, sometimes a matter of days later.

Many software suppliers see no real difference between Canada and the US in terms of risk caused by government action. The aggressive stance taken by the DoJ in 2006, accompanied by UIGEA, scared many operators out of the US, but a few of these were SO scared that they followed the US pull out by pulling out of the 51st state of the US, Canada. They just couldn't accept that new US laws would not affect their operations in Canada.

 

[jetset]

Here's the latest:

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[vinylweatherman]

Now we have just heard that Skrill will be pulling out of Canada early in the new year (although they will still allow Canadians to have accounts for non gambling purposes). Will they too announce a policy reversal?

Whilst Euro Partners seem to be backing down from pulling out of Canada, the loss of Skrill will make it harder for players to carry on playing.

A Skrill pull out may precipitate a round of further operator pull outs as it makes it harder for them to service Canadian player accounts, as well as making them think that what has scared Skrill into action ought to scare them too.

 

[me_and_ed]

I have to believe with the implementation of provincially run online gaming here in Canada there must be pressure on the feds to eliminate off shore online gaming within the country, so I am confident your theory is not too far in the future.