Wildbill, very informative post, thanx. My personal opinion is that the UK will rule the sports betting world soon. I'm not counting the locals & offices in the US. The UK can't out drop that end of it. Just the transperant action. Here's what's going down in the UK now and in the very recent past:
Bookmakers were locating in jurisdictions off the English Coast or in quasi-UK locations to beat the tax. The GOV'T WANTED THEM BACK so they changed the tax structure to suit the BM's.
Now, NCAA & US pro sports are shown on British TV in abundance.
The Brits can now bet from home on their TV's, PC's & teles (teles, kinda British huh).
Vegas Insider was bought by a UK co for their American sports content.
Licensing is easy to obtain, and it means something, as opposed to third world "licenses".
The "righteous bureauacRATS" in the US can't muscle the Brits. Gambling is a way of life over there.
Biggest reason of all; They wan't it...
ScottyS
Bookmakers were locating in jurisdictions off the English Coast or in quasi-UK locations to beat the tax. The GOV'T WANTED THEM BACK so they changed the tax structure to suit the BM's.
Now, NCAA & US pro sports are shown on British TV in abundance.
The Brits can now bet from home on their TV's, PC's & teles (teles, kinda British huh).
Vegas Insider was bought by a UK co for their American sports content.
Licensing is easy to obtain, and it means something, as opposed to third world "licenses".
The "righteous bureauacRATS" in the US can't muscle the Brits. Gambling is a way of life over there.
Biggest reason of all; They wan't it...
ScottyS
Just to set a few things straight boys,
Scott's quote -
"Licensing is easy to obtain, and it means something, as opposed to third world "licenses".
Wake up and smell the coffee , the license doesn't mean SHIT.
Exilarch quote -
"Here is the reason: Most books from CR,Caribbean,etc. could never obtain a license in the UK.They are too sleazy. That's why all the bookmakers here all have aliases."
The majority of the gambling industry's brains are located in CR and the surrounding areas.
Slots -
posted June 27, 2003 06:48 PM
"P.S. 15% gross profits tax on sports, other license fee's for things like soccer data, racing data, levy, etc. "
That's correct - I sometimes wonder how you guys are making it pay over there. Betfair is starting to affect all the books in europe at the moment, hence share prices of alot of internet bookies are on a downward spiral.
Scott's quote -
"Licensing is easy to obtain, and it means something, as opposed to third world "licenses".
Wake up and smell the coffee , the license doesn't mean SHIT.
Exilarch quote -
"Here is the reason: Most books from CR,Caribbean,etc. could never obtain a license in the UK.They are too sleazy. That's why all the bookmakers here all have aliases."
The majority of the gambling industry's brains are located in CR and the surrounding areas.
Slots -
posted June 27, 2003 06:48 PM
"P.S. 15% gross profits tax on sports, other license fee's for things like soccer data, racing data, levy, etc. "
That's correct - I sometimes wonder how you guys are making it pay over there. Betfair is starting to affect all the books in europe at the moment, hence share prices of alot of internet bookies are on a downward spiral.
That license means something. How many no pay situations have come out of the offshore world and compare that to the UK. To customers it means a lot, but obviously most bettors are deciding better prices and offering. The UK have regulators that actually make sure you have money to cover all your daily action and if a book were to go insolvent there is a process that makes sure that clients are reimbursed as much as possible first and it all goes through a court overseen method much like you would expect of any company going under. Now compare that to the other offshores. Offshore gets on the rocks, has no way to prove yes or no it has the funds to survive. Someone catches onto this and there is a slow wave of withdrawls that begins. Now business might have had a chance, but once this wave gets going it becomes iffy at best. Then the book just realizes it indeed can't handle its business and it runs with all the money it has.
Now review the difference in the UK. First off bettors don't get worry much about the financial situation because a licensed book must have good finances to keep its license. No its not perfect because they aren't watching their every move, but its a lot more reliable than elsewhere. If a book were still to get in trouble, the process would start whereby a book must pay its outstanding bets first, before making sure the ownership has money for whatever it wants to spend it on. While some of the failed books might not have had the money to cover all their accounts, surely all those guys made sure they got their original investment out by stiffing customers. Much harder to do that when you are regulated. You can say a license doesn't mean anything, but that is truly a foolish thing to say. If you were running a book and tried to tell your customers that they probably run from you real fast. If you are not in the UK you can try to make that case since most of your competition can't say they have one either, but for the most leery customers that claim won't hold water.
Now review the difference in the UK. First off bettors don't get worry much about the financial situation because a licensed book must have good finances to keep its license. No its not perfect because they aren't watching their every move, but its a lot more reliable than elsewhere. If a book were still to get in trouble, the process would start whereby a book must pay its outstanding bets first, before making sure the ownership has money for whatever it wants to spend it on. While some of the failed books might not have had the money to cover all their accounts, surely all those guys made sure they got their original investment out by stiffing customers. Much harder to do that when you are regulated. You can say a license doesn't mean anything, but that is truly a foolish thing to say. If you were running a book and tried to tell your customers that they probably run from you real fast. If you are not in the UK you can try to make that case since most of your competition can't say they have one either, but for the most leery customers that claim won't hold water.
Its not that hard to get a license really as the UK doesn't have a Nevada type squeaky clean requirement. Remember that most gambling is legal in the UK, you just have to follow the regulations. The guys down in the Caribbean and CR aren't necessarily convicted felons, since almost just about every conviction for bookmaking is a plea bargained misdemeanor. The person that talked about the hundreds or thousands of licenses they have in the UK didn't mention that the vast majority of them are just one man or groups of people that are on-course bookmakers. I have a strong suspicion that those guys are not much different than most people involved with books offshore. Yes they would have a terribly hard time getting licensed in Nevada or any US state, but the UK doesn't see things the same way.
