Skrill & Canada

[Igor82]

Skrill will be pulling out of Canada in respect of gambling as of 2nd January 2014. FYI for the members (unless someone brought it up already) while we'll be notifying our Canadian Skrill using customers and working on migrating them to a viable alternative.

Any suggestions?

 

[dionysus]

well snap, but then, they're taking a week or more to credit to the bank now anyway, so time to move.
As to where, I dunno. But I know other Canadians use alternate methods. I've just been with Skrill since day one.
Dang, I'll be using today to research

 

[Igor82]

So far, loudest response i've received was instadebit.

 

[dionysus]

So far, loudest response i've received was instadebit.

Basically it just takes directly from my bank acct, which is no biggie - as long as it puts back directly into the bank, otherwise I'd still need an e-wallet regardless.

 

[Jasminebed]

This will probably end my business relationship with certain casinos that do not pay back to credit cards.

Personally, I don't wish to have my bank accounts available for instant access to gamble with. Let's just call it a safety measure on my part.

If wires have a reasonable fee, I'd probably opt for that. Cheques issued on Canadian banks would be fine by me too. Might change how I play to less frequently but with higher deposits aiming for higher cashouts.

Not good news for me I'm afraid.

 

[dionysus]

This will probably end my business relationship with certain casinos that do not pay back to credit cards.

Personally, I don't wish to have my bank accounts available for instant access to gamble with. Let's just call it a safety measure on my part.

If wires have a reasonable fee, I'd probably opt for that. Cheques issued on Canadian banks would be fine by me too. Might change how I play to less frequently but with higher deposits aiming for higher cashouts.

Not good news for me I'm afraid.

If returns TO the method I deposit with, are reasonable time-frames, I'm ok with it - cheques, wire transfers, things that take several days or a week or more, well, I'll take up knitting lol...

 

[LaHutti]

Do they give a reason at all ?

Skrill will be pulling out of Canada in respect of gambling as of 2nd January 2014. FYI for the members (unless someone brought it up already) while we'll be notifying our Canadian Skrill using customers and working on migrating them to a viable alternative.

Any suggestions?

 

[asadzareef89]

Skrill will be pulling out of Canada in respect of gambling as of 2nd January 2014. FYI for the members (unless someone brought it up already) while we'll be notifying our Canadian Skrill using customers and working on migrating them to a viable alternative.

Any suggestions?

The only suggestion would be to not migrate to canada as everyone seems to be disliking them these days, the pull out of playtech then some MG slots and now skrill

 

[dionysus]

The only suggestion would be to not migrate to canada as everyone seems to be disliking them these days, the pull out of playtech then some MG slots and now skrill

lol, we have a bit more to offer here in Canada than online gambling.

Skrill already pulled out of the US, and we still play most major providers. And as Simmo explained, PT was a decision from certain casinos not PT themselves

 

[LaHutti]

I'm getting the feeling, that something is going on, behind the scenes, regarding online gambling in Canada. Anyone else ?

 

[dionysus]

I'm getting the feeling, that something is going on, behind the scenes, regarding online gambling in Canada. Anyone else ?

yup, I'm waiting for a massive Canadian exodus..I think once the US is in full swing, we'll lose MG too (sniff)

 

[asadzareef89]

lol, we have a bit more to offer here in Canada than online gambling.

Skrill already pulled out of the US, and we still play most major providers. And as Simmo explained, PT was a decision from certain casinos not PT themselves

But there's no smoke without a fire, must be something going on behind the scenes for all these things to happen in a short space of time

 

[Igor82]

Do they give a reason at all ?

No they don't just that they decided to quit gaming in Canada.

 

[Igor82]

As for "something going on" - same here. I'm trying to sniff it out, but whereas usually there are sufficient signs and regulatory reasons in the open, this time around everyone is shrugging it off. No one has said anything official about regularizing Canada so i cant really tell.

 

[dionysus]

Quebec has online gambling and slots. Perhaps Ontario and others will follow suit, thus casinos maybe hedging and bumping out Canadians for if/when it becomes official.

 

[johnsteed]

More info/speculation:

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About a month ago, I was on the phone with someone from one of the major banks in Canada (mentioned in a recent thread). He/she said 3 times casually in the conversation, "But, hey, things could change 6 months from now..." when talking about online gambling in Canada. Nothing concrete of course, but, doesn't sound good either.

 

[Jasminebed]

OLG has declared that 2014 we will have online gambling in Ontario. I think it will be Canada-wide in 2015 if I recall correctly what I read. BC, Quebec, and soon to be Ontario comprise over half the population of Canada. It's in Manitoba, and either on board or coming to the Maritimes.

Government run casinos don't like competition from my observations. It could also be that Skrill is eyeing the roll of processor for those casinos run by the various provinces. That is speculation on my part. There are several possibilities, and I doubt we will ever really know why a business decision is made.

I'm also interested in hearing from Canadians playing online at provincial casinos what methods of payment and withdrawal are they currently using?

I'd be happy to use a Canadian based e-wallet, or at least one that sends wires from a Canadian bank. I currently pay a foreign wire fee when I receive one from Skrill.

Thank you so much for the heads up on this issue Igor.

I am wondering what RTG is going to be able to offer me as a suitable withdrawal method. Those places that pay back to Visa, I'll just use that there until I have my alternatives researched.

 

[Jasminebed]

We've seen some banks pull out of gambling transactions here, or not allow them for their credit cards.

If it gets to be like for US like the US has it to deposit and withdraw, I'll be taking my gambling once a month to the B&M on a day trip like I did before online.

I will miss it however.

Most of us slotters, even the high rollers, don't move the amount of funds poker players do. I'll read that link in more depth Johnsteed, thank you

 

[me_and_ed]

OLG has declared that 2014 we will have online gambling in Ontario. I think it will be Canada-wide in 2015 if I recall correctly what I read. BC, Quebec, and soon to be Ontario comprise over half the population of Canada. It's in Manitoba, and either on board or coming to the Maritimes.

Government run casinos don't like competition from my observations. It could also be that Skrill is eyeing the roll of processor for those casinos run by the various provinces. That is speculation on my part. There are several possibilities, and I doubt we will ever really know why a business decision is made.

I'm also interested in hearing from Canadians playing online at provincial casinos what methods of payment and withdrawal are they currently using?

I'd be happy to use a Canadian based e-wallet, or at least one that sends wires from a Canadian bank. I currently pay a foreign wire fee when I receive one from Skrill.

Thank you so much for the heads up on this issue Igor.

I am wondering what RTG is going to be able to offer me as a suitable withdrawal method. Those places that pay back to Visa, I'll just use that there until I have my alternatives researched.

I just said basically the same thing in another thread, I think you are spot on, once the power of OLG puts on the pressure I think we will see sadly see some movement here.

 

[Perc]

Looks like it may be time to move to the UK, or better yet, elect a new government that doesn't follow the US around like a lost puppy.

Pushing people out of existing online casinos, opening your own and forcing your people to only play there, is a stupid way to go about making it legal. Not saying that's what is happening, and I really hope it doesn't go that far, but since Ontario is the only province that matters to our gov't, something could happen when they finally get their casino online.

Why not just sell licenses to the existing online casinos and tax the income they get from Canadians? It's simple, it's been done before (rather successfully I think), and you don't have to deal with things like the BC site getting hacked on launch day because they had no idea what they were doing. Leave it to the experienced casinos that have been doing this for many years, and simply take a cut for allowing Canadians to play there legally. Lots of income for minimal effort.

Just think of how much money the US gov't could have made since 2006 if they would have started selling licenses rather than enforcing the UIGEA. I'm thinking the figure would be much higher than the amount they confiscated from processors, and they wouldn't have pissed their own people off by reducing their freedom. Would have also saved a ton of taxpayer dollars not having to enforce their stupid rules.

It's just so frustrating to watch stupid people doing stupid things. I guess that's why I'm not in politics.

 

[Igor82]

It's just so frustrating to watch stupid people doing stupid things. I guess that's why I'm not in politics.

And why you (and like minded) probably should be. Sadly, it doesn't work that way

 

[Jasminebed]

I don't think Skrill's decision had been planned for all that long. It's only really recently that they have offered an ATM card to Canadians, and I think they were launching a virtual prepaid mastercard of their own?

Doesn't matter to me personally, but I'm wondering if affiliates can still use it for receiving payments from their programs? I mean, that's not gambling, it's a business relationship.

One solution for paying Canadian's I'd like to see a casino use is email money transfer. It's relatively low cost, and it's FAST, usually less than 1/2 an hour to your bank account after acknowledging the email. A processor would just have to make a payment from their Canadian bank account (and it doesn't have to be the same one), and you choose which account you want it deposited to. For me to send money to my kid for instance, I believe it's $1.50 fee.

 

[Balthazar]

Well if the government bans online casinos in hope that we'll move to their State-run gambling monopoly, they better start offering better online slots than the outdated crap that they have now. The slots look like they were made in 1991, even the classic IGT ones look shitty:





In all seriousness though, if Skrill is getting some pressure it must be from the financial institutions. Either that or they got a scary letter from some government lawyers. They did it before with Neteller I think.

Somehow, I highly doubt that a company like Skrill would have "inside informations" about a secret upcoming Canadian gambling bill.

 

[baldidiot]

Doesn't matter to me personally, but I'm wondering if affiliates can still use it for receiving payments from their programs? I mean, that's not gambling, it's a business relationship.

There are reports on some aff forums about affiliates being told they can no longer receive payments via MB. Not sure if that's a hard and fast rule or on a case by case basis (it probably also makes a difference where the money is coming from - eg: from TheCasinosMBAccount.com or from SomeRandomHoldingCompany.com).

 

[dionysus]

Unibet pulling out before Jan 2014:

We`ve noticed that some of your payments to Unibet were made via Skrill. We are sorry to inform you that as a result of Skrill’s decision to withdraw from gaming in Canada we are removing this method of payment. You can continue to deposit and withdraw via card and bank transfer before and after this date.

The effective date for the change to go live is this Friday, 20th December 2013, on this date we will remove the deposit method. On January 27th we will also be removing the withdrawal capability.

Hope you will understand this change and stay with us for 2014.

 

[vinylweatherman]

There are reports on some aff forums about affiliates being told they can no longer receive payments via MB. Not sure if that's a hard and fast rule or on a case by case basis (it probably also makes a difference where the money is coming from - eg: from TheCasinosMBAccount.com or from SomeRandomHoldingCompany.com).

So, why are affiliates considered to be "customers" in this respect, rather than "business partners". Many online casinos have offices in Israel, but this is a country very much against online gambling, yet casinos can still employ office staff, pay their salaries, and even pay their other business partners, yet the money they use DOES result from the "illegal activity" of online gambling.

It all looks very confusing. What exactly is the relationship between operator and affiliate. This gives the impression that affiliates are NOT classed as "business partners", but players operating a scaled up "refer a friend" scheme by using their own webspace, social media accounts, and direct emailing (otherwise known as spam).

The exact legal status of affiliates is important, especially now that the industry has entered the mainstream. It can have significant tax and legal implications to a player receiving money for "referring friends" to a business he is a customer of.

In the UK, referring a couple of friends for a discount or cashback is not likely to be subject to income tax (it has been raised by HMRC in the past, and they granted a dispensation), but at some point HMRC are going to consider that you are operating a business, and should register this with them (probably as self employed). Here in the UK, it isn't just tax, but self employed national insurance contributions, that affiliates need to worry about.

Skrill has said that Canadians can still use their accounts for other purposes, and affiliates are not gambling, they are selling marketing services to an operator offering gambling products. This does not give affiliates long to check the implications this move may have on them receiving their payments, and act if it does.

 

[SirWegs]

I have heard that ECOPayz will continue and focus even more on Canada from now on. So I guess its time for all players from Canada to re-suite their wallets with them

 

[Booo73]

I have heard that ECOPayz will continue and focus even more on Canada from now on. So I guess its time for all players from Canada to re-suite their wallets with them

I haven't heard of EcoPayz so I guess I'll check that out. I had resigned myself to Ukash vouchers and Pre-Paid Vanilla Mastercards but I would prefer to have an ewallet as well

 

[dionysus]

I haven't heard of EcoPayz so I guess I'll check that out. I had resigned myself to Ukash vouchers and Pre-Paid Vanilla Mastercards but I would prefer to have an ewallet as well

I use the MCs now when I play - for me, it's how am I going to get my money OUT?..lol

 

[Booo73]

I use the MCs now when I play - for me, it's how am I going to get my money OUT?..lol

Yup for me too hun. That's why I need an ewallet. Also looking into getting a Visa Debit from MoneyMart. I've heard you can go online and transfer money to your bank account from it and it's accepted at online casinos I think. I need to check into it a bit more or maybe someone here has one that can enlighten us. My RBC Visa Debit sure doesn't work.

 

[baldidiot]

So, why are affiliates considered to be "customers" in this respect, rather than "business partners". Many online casinos have offices in Israel, but this is a country very much against online gambling, yet casinos can still employ office staff, pay their salaries, and even pay their other business partners, yet the money they use DOES result from the "illegal activity" of online gambling.

I don't think it's that affiliates are considered customer, just a distancing from any gambling related activity. Somebody mentioned on an aff forum the other day that they enquired about the reason for affiliates not to be able to receive MB payments in Canada and they were told that it was to do with the origin of the money.

Seems a bit ott to me..

 

[Igor82]

I haven't heard of EcoPayz so I guess I'll check that out. I had resigned myself to Ukash vouchers and Pre-Paid Vanilla Mastercards but I would prefer to have an ewallet as well

Boo, we organised with EcoPayz for our players to get preferential rates and treatment.

I'm still pushing the loading of the wallet price down for you guys and we ensured there are no FX rates when crediting. Soon we'll issue the mailer with all the information as we close negotiations (mailer will go out around xmas time i imagine) so watch this space

Igor

 

[dionysus]

Boo, we organised with EcoPayz for our players to get preferential rates and treatment.

I'm still pushing the loading of the wallet price down for you guys and we ensured there are no FX rates when crediting. Soon we'll issue the mailer with all the information as we close negotiations (mailer will go out around xmas time i imagine) so watch this space

Igor

woot - good, because January was starting to look scary. If I couldn't play, I'd have to *shudder* spend more time with lovers, family and the dogs lol

 

[Booo73]

Boo, we organised with EcoPayz for our players to get preferential rates and treatment.

I'm still pushing the loading of the wallet price down for you guys and we ensured there are no FX rates when crediting. Soon we'll issue the mailer with all the information as we close negotiations (mailer will go out around xmas time i imagine) so watch this space

Igor

Thanks so much Igor. I'll be keeping an eye out for it.

 

[homerbert]

Here, in Belarus, i have no restrictions from games providers. I can use skrill with no problem.
Hey, canadian guys, can u go to Belarus, and i go to Canada instead?

 

[dionysus]

Here, in Belarus, i have no restrictions from games providers. I can use skrill with no problem.
Hey, canadian guys, can u go to Belarus, and i go to Canada instead?

done! lol

 

[Googobucs]

And the answer is.....

I think you have your answer now. It's the sex workers trying to divert peoples entertainment $$.

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[slotmaster]

I have heard that ECOPayz will continue and focus even more on Canada from now on. So I guess its time for all players from Canada to re-suite their wallets with them

I have used ecopayz, but to fellow Canucks it is expensive to use due to fees and exchange rates, also last time I used it they did not transfer the money to the site right away like usual and it took 3 hours, I thought something happened to connection so I tried transaction again and same thing, looked at my credit card and was infact charged twice! with the money nowhere to be found on ecopayz or the site I was trying to get money on.

I have not used ecopayz since and I recommend to try and find more reliable and cheaper way for transactions.

 

[marcsudbury]

Money mart visa accepted everywhere online. I use to cash out as well, from microgaming and play tech casinos. Well Omni is the only play tech I play. 15k limit however lol nice problem to have.

 

[Balthazar]

Money mart visa

Astonomical monthly fees.

 

[LaHutti]

yup... $15/month flat fee, or pr. transaction. Your choice, depending on how much you use it.

Oh....and if you're fast enough, from you load it til you spend it, you won't be paying the fee (Which is why the flat fee is a good thing). Just don't leave any money on it

Astonomical monthly fees.

 

[Jasminebed]

yup... $15/month flat fee, or pr. transaction. Your choice, depending on how much you use it.

Oh....and if you're fast enough, from you load it til you spend it, you won't be paying the fee (Which is why the flat fee is a good thing). Just don't leave any money on it

I guess it depends how often you use it which fee structure to choose. Disposible gift cards cost $3.95 for a $25 card, and up to $6.95 for a $200 one, and you don't have the option of receiving funds back to the card.

 

[jedichica]

Deposit Woes for Canada

That's too bad- I've come on to this site after a long absence looking for a deposit option for credit cards that's a bit quicker than getting verified etc.

All my credit card companies seem to block the transaction..... I'd like to get past that efficiently without waiting on the cash-out or deposit end.

I've had really bad service and a complaint with Instadebit that they still have not resolved after over a year, which in all fairness started out as my fault, but they didn't make any effort to help out or want my service, and my account is still locked over a year later. I guess we both decided we were breaking up .

Eco-Pay seems good for deposits, but getting funds back out used to be lengthy.

I'd love some tips as well, I'll follow this post in hopes