Dutch fella wanting to gamble

amsterdam · 08-31-2006, 08:57 AM

Hi,

Does anyone know which sportsbooks accept accounts from people that live in the Netherlands? It seems that it's not quite legal for us. Pinnacle sports has sent me this:

-----------------------------

Dear Sir,

Due to a legal ruling in The Netherlands, Pinnacle Sports may not knowingly accept wagers from this country. While we appreciate you choosing Pinnacle Sports, for this reason we must suspend your account.

Regards,

Customer Service Department
Pinnacle Sports

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I'm a bit confused beacuse I've never experienced any trouble with depositing and withdrawing funds from poker sites, which I do regularly.

I'd like to bet on the Steelers-Dolphins game, even though I've never watched a Football game in my life. But thanks to Mansion and any other sportsbook that will accept my money, I'm feeling very lucky.

Gooooo whichever team that wants to win!

rm18 · 08-31-2006, 09:02 AM

Essentially any book not based in Netherlands/Antilles will take you. Even though pinnacle will not let you play there, which is really unfortnate, it still would be wise to check their lines ast a reference , the reason they won't take you is they would have to pay taxes on every wager you make, I think?

noyb · 08-31-2006, 09:24 AM

not true, a lot of sportsbooks won't take you, not just books that are based on the antilles.. check out the registration-process of the books you are interested in and you'll see for your self if they'll take you.. there are some that do but you got to look around. if you're having any trouble, send me a pm.

Dark Horse · 08-31-2006, 09:45 AM

So you're looking for a book to middle the Steelers game? Try Canbet. Australian. Or any European book, such as bet365 (assuming that the laws in Europe are the same for all Europeans). If your're looking for low juice, you can also try Cascade (-105). And Canbet is -107 for NFL games.

Good luck.

noyb · 08-31-2006, 09:54 AM

"(assuming that the laws in Europe are the same for all Europeans). "

they are definitely not, i can write a book about this by now, but in theory the European Union has set rules which makes it possible for free trade in the whole of the EU (so also free bookmaking), but some countries have their very own laws which they choose to enforce over EU-law for as long they're not being sued this by the EU (which will undoubtely happen at some point in the future)

Dark Horse · 08-31-2006, 10:15 AM

England allows betting. So let's say Holland doesn't. Can't a Dutch person open a bank account in London, with a London mailbox address? Europeans are free to live anywhere in Europe, so that shouldn't be a problem, or is it?

amsterdam · 08-31-2006, 10:30 AM

I'm not sure about all the details, all I know is that gambling in Holland is only allowed when it's state regulated. The state has a gambling monopoly. This is strange, because (as noyb already noted) this doesn't comply with free traffic of services. Our justice department claims the monopoly is justified because this system better prevents gambling addiction, which it really doesn't.

All I know is that I've never experienced any difficulties with gambling on various poker sites, they welcome my business. But apparantly some sportsbooks don't allow Dutch accounts.

I need to find one that does!

noyb · 08-31-2006, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark Horse

England allows betting. So let's say Holland doesn't. Can't a Dutch person open a bank account in London, with a London mailbox address? Europeans are free to live anywhere in Europe, so that shouldn't be a problem, or is it?

well you would still have a dutch IP for starters, and bookmakers do check on those and do kick you out without your winnings if they find out. living in another country alltogether is ofcourse always a possibility, but a bit excessive perhaps.
the bookmakers that do accept dutch people can not be counted on two hands though, so I'm not complaining, but it takes a little bit extra research.

Lucas · 08-31-2006, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by noyb

well you would still have a dutch IP for starters, and bookmakers do check on those and do kick you out without your winnings if they find out. living in another country alltogether is ofcourse always a possibility, but a bit excessive perhaps.
the bookmakers that do except dutch people can not be counted on two hands though, do I'm not complaining, but it takes a little bit extra research.

Proxy is much cheaper solution!

mad · 08-31-2006, 11:28 AM

Try Canbet or Centrebet. They take all sorts and should have little problem with Dutch clients. Other than that i don't know what to tell ya'.

It is an interesting situation all the same. One would think that one of the Euro books would and could, test the law under restraint of trade, provision of services or some such, in the European courts, and win. 20 million or so new customers just sitting there!

noyb · 08-31-2006, 11:47 AM

some bookies have tried in dutch court and failed.. there should also be some pending cases in european court but it's all pretty unclear. the european commission is not very fast adressing these kind of things.. (a few months ago they decided to send "a letter" to the dutch government about it)
there are a lot more european countries with similar bettinglaws which are also completely contradictory to european law, so it's a bit of a complicated situation.

Unibet, a big european bookie, is openly advertising now on many dutch sportswebsites, problably guessing the government will not have the guts to sue them anyway, and so far they have been right. so if I were a bookie, I wouldn't reject the dutch because there's hardly any risk of legal action, unfortunately Pinnacle has decided to play it safe on this matter.

pags11 · 09-01-2006, 04:51 AM

amsterdam,

welcome to the SBR forum...