I hate to beat a dead horse, but are you pulling money out?

[harold_bush]

I'd love to know what everyone is doing with their money in the online books. I really didn't worry about the bill when it first was signed, b/c I figured the books would find a way around it. Now I'm reading that several sites are no longer taking action from the USA.

Has anyone heard anything specific about Pinnacle? I guess all of the companies are pretty much the same? Are we safe to ride football season out through January? I'm just looking for some educated opinions, b/c I have little clue what may happen.

Thanks a lot guys for any thoughts.

[bhs4life]

Use Betcris Debit Seems To Be Solid

[moondog22]

I'm leaving mine in Pinnacle

[thesandman]

I know some of the guys at sportsbook.com and asked them what all this means. They said the parent company, sportingbet PLC, spun off sportbook.com as a separate privately owned company, as a way to stay in business without public shareholders.

This is a copy of the email I got from them.

With the recent passing of law effecting financial institutions’ transactions
with online gaming companies, Sportsbook.com’s parent company, Sportingbet PLC,
has decided to stop taking wagers from customers in the US effective
immediately.

Does this mean you can’t bet on sports or play blackjack online anymore at
Sportsbook.com? Hell no.

Sportsbook.com is open for business as usual. Better than usual, in fact, see
below.

Sportingbet PLC has sold Sportsbook.com to the existing management team and a
group of investors who are continuing to run Sportsbook.com just as always—or
perhaps even better than before.

So, as always, your transactions remain secure, your details completely
confidential and your account safe with eGaming Review’s number one US facing
sports book for the second year running-- Sportsbook.com

If you have any questions about this change, please email
[email protected] or call us on 1-800-632-6088. You can also chat to one
of our Live operators right now by going to the following link and clicking on
the 'Live Chat' button: http://www.sportsbook.com/info/help.php

Better Than Usual:
10% reload bonus on all deposits from Friday morning to Sunday midnight.

Deposit over $300 this weekend and we’ll also send you our new 2007 Big Deals
desk calendar.

Deposit over $1000 this weekend and we’ll send you our beautiful Sportsbook.com
poker set.

Deposit using Neteller or eCheck and we’ll kick in an extra 5% on top of all
that.

Terms and conditions apply, see the promotion section of Sportsbook.com for
details.
You must click here http://www.sportsbook.com/promos/2006bigdeal/ in order to
participate in the gifts promotion:

Welcome to the new Sportsbook.com.

The Team at Sportsbook.com.

[GOLDENGREEK]

I know some of the guys at sportsbook.com and asked them what all this means. They said the parent company, sportingbet PLC, spun off sportbook.com as a separate privately owned company, as a way to stay in business without public shareholders.

This is a copy of the email I got from them.

With the recent passing of law effecting financial institutions’ transactions
with online gaming companies, Sportsbook.com’s parent company, Sportingbet PLC,
has decided to stop taking wagers from customers in the US effective
immediately.

Does this mean you can’t bet on sports or play blackjack online anymore at
Sportsbook.com? Hell no.

Sportsbook.com is open for business as usual. Better than usual, in fact, see
below.

Sportingbet PLC has sold Sportsbook.com to the existing management team and a
group of investors who are continuing to run Sportsbook.com just as always—or
perhaps even better than before.

So, as always, your transactions remain secure, your details completely
confidential and your account safe with eGaming Review’s number one US facing
sports book for the second year running-- Sportsbook.com

If you have any questions about this change, please email
[email protected] or call us on 1-800-632-6088. You can also chat to one
of our Live operators right now by going to the following link and clicking on
the 'Live Chat' button: http://www.sportsbook.com/info/help.php

Better Than Usual:
10% reload bonus on all deposits from Friday morning to Sunday midnight.

Deposit over $300 this weekend and we’ll also send you our new 2007 Big Deals
desk calendar.

Deposit over $1000 this weekend and we’ll send you our beautiful Sportsbook.com
poker set.

Deposit using Neteller or eCheck and we’ll kick in an extra 5% on top of all
that.

Terms and conditions apply, see the promotion section of Sportsbook.com for
details.
You must click here http://www.sportsbook.com/promos/2006bigdeal/ in order to
participate in the gifts promotion:

Welcome to the new Sportsbook.com.

The Team at Sportsbook.com.

I RECIEVED THE SAME EMAIL----EXACTLY WHAT DOES THIS MEAN???

[BigJake]

I received a similar e-mail after asking pinnacle about all this, and they told me in no uncertain terms they had no immediate plans to change anything and will address future issues with account deposits/withdrawls as they come up. They specifically mentioned that they would, despite Frist legislation, never withold payment or prevent bets made by "valued US customers".
I read this to mean that they, as the most awesomest online book, are not intimidated. And why should they be? Curacao is not scared, and neither is pinnacle. I really wouldn't worry too much about this in the interim, unless your book is a british publicly traded company.
Anyway, I strongly suspect the law is going to change in the coming years and basically won't last. This is worse than 16 yo page cell phone messages in my opinion, because the republicans are basically accussing 20 million otherwise patriotic and decent americans of engaging in immoral/illegal behavior. It's going to cost them, and several conservative talking heads (i.e. the washington post editorial editor, his name escapes me at the moment) have already mentioned what a bad move it was. Bad move indeed!

[moondog22]

I received a similar e-mail after asking pinnacle about all this, and they told me in no uncertain terms they had no immediate plans to change anything and will address future issues with account deposits/withdrawls as they come up. They specifically mentioned that they would, despite Frist legislation, never withold payment or prevent bets made by "valued US customers".
I read this to mean that they, as the most awesomest online book, are not intimidated. And why should they be? Curacao is not scared, and neither is pinnacle. I really wouldn't worry too much about this in the interim, unless your book is a british publicly traded company.
Anyway, I strongly suspect the law is going to change in the coming years and basically won't last. This is worse than 16 yo page cell phone messages in my opinion, because the republicans are basically accussing 20 million otherwise patriotic and decent americans of engaging in immoral/illegal behavior. It's going to cost them, and several conservative talking heads (i.e. the washington post editorial editor, his name escapes me at the moment) have already mentioned what a bad move it was. Bad move indeed!

I e-mailed my Republican Congessman and all Republican candidates at ALL levels of goverment that I will not vote for any of them till they repeal that fuking bill.

[MB17]

I'm not saying that those guys are lying, but what do you really expect them to say? You're screwed so take out all of your money before it's too late?

I'm not a veteran or anything, but I'd be a little weary if I had a nice chunk of change in a sportsbook right now.

[Udog]

What I have done is this. I have withdrawn everything except my original roll. I have reduced my betting unit to 1% of my roll. I plan to withdraw winnings regularly, now. Now, I can't be hurt, financially, no matter what happens. But, the accounts are still open just in case the congress repeals or can't really enforce this legislation.

From Moon in post #7: "I e-mailed my Republican Congessman and all Republican candidates at ALL levels of goverment that I will not vote for any of them till they repeal that fuking bill."

Damn right! We don't need them for anything anymore! These are the people, after all, who credit Ronald Reagan with ending Communism by travelling to Berlin and making a damn speech!! Just ask Red China, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Argentina, Cerbia, Bosnia and Croatia if anything was ended!!!

Bill Frist has never tried or accomplished anything. Everything he has, including his medical and political careers, were bought for him. He has been perfectly content to stay home and live off his daddy's money his whole life. Money that was made, by the way, through his dad's corporation (Hospital Corporation of America) defrauding insurance companies.

Is it any wonder that he has no problems going behind our backs, sneaking around and subverting the "representative" nature of our government?

I'm with Moondog! These guys must be sent packing!

[BettorsChat]

I don't see any problems with getting your money as long as your playing with a reputable place.

[Udog]

I think BC is right on the money. Responsible businessmen, from other countries, will behave responsibly no matter what policy some foreign government tries to dictate.

Just be patient, guys. We are witnessing the death-throes of a failed administration and all we have to do is wait, in my opinion.

[CMDawg]

I'm leaving mine in Pinnacle

Ditto... I have been given no significant enough reason from pinnacle to pull all of my money. I am going to continue to place my wagers and wait this whole thing out.

I don't see any problems with getting your money as long as your playing with a reputable place.

Agreed.

[thesandman]

GoldenGreek asked

I RECIEVED THE SAME EMAIL----EXACTLY WHAT DOES THIS MEAN???

This is what I think. Offshore books that are part of a British Public Company, have stopped accepting bets from any US customers.

sportsbook.com is one of these offshores whose parent company, Sportingbet plc, is a public company on the Londen Stock Exchange.

Instead of shutting down US operations, they sold sportbook.com for one dollar, to a group of high level managers at sportsbook.com. Now they are a private offshore again, just like Pinnicle etc. and can stay open.

Banks have up to 270 days to have procedures in place to stop handling money transactions to and from internet gambling sites. FWIW, US banks are not happy about any of this.

sportsbook.com plans to continue US operations, without any changes, until it becomes difficult to collect and pay out, money from US citizens. This is likely to be closer to 270 days from now, than closer to today.

They are offering all the specials listed in their email, to keep their players from leaving and to show their players that they are a private offshore again and are still accepting bets from US citizens.

One of the managers I know told me one reason the parent company, Sportingbet plc, decided not to stop US operations is because they found it cheaper to sell it back to the management group than to shut down and pay serverence to employes being laid off. That shows some class to me since I would guess they could just lay off their employees while doing nothing to help them.

I don't know if this makes any of this clearer. I've played with them for 3 years and never had a problem getting my money or being told I lost a play I won. The only thing I don't like about sportsbook.com is they don't send my money to Neteller right away, like Pinacle, and I have to wait a day or two before Neteller gets it.

I'm not going to tell anyone it's safe to play with sportsbook.com because who really knows what is going to happen, but they have been honest with me in the past and I'm OK with leaving my money with them, instead of moving all of it into my Pinnicle account. I usually keep around the same amount with both of them.

One thing that bothers me about this whole mess is that I would have hoped England would have tried to stop Bush from signing the bill. Tony Blair is one of the few leaders who still likes Bush and I'm surprised he just sits back and lets Bush hurt the British companies by signing the bill. Blair should be using his friendship with Bush to try and stop him from signing legislation that hurts the English people. The parent companines in England who own some of the offshores have seen the value of their companies cut by two thirds. How can Blair just sit back and watch.

[BettorsChat]

Tony Blair does what Bush wants and that's why he's leaving at the end of the year. His term ran through September of 07.

[thesandman]

I didn't know he was leaving early. That kind of shoots down what he should do.