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So I've been trying to do my crypto taxes and naturally my tax agency started looking into my account history wherever they could and this lead to questions about where my BTC comes from. A majority of it has been from gambling, FortuneJack or Nitrogensports. Now they tell me that if my winnings are from sites that are operating from EU/EES I don't have to pay any taxes at all on my winnings so naturally I'm starting to look into it so the tax hit isn't as big.

I reached out to Nitrogensports through their support form and got a non-answer but after a couple of days I got an email from them that looks like this:

https://i.imgur.com/HgGTnYm.jpg

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This was annoying, ofcourse, as I explained I've spoken with my tax agency extensively and I just needed an answer from where they are operating so I replied with this:

https://i.imgur.com/n1K6Zdz.jpg

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Now here's where I'd expect them to either tell me that they are running their operations without any licenses or public information or at least tell me where they are based but lo and behold here's the reply I got:

https://i.imgur.com/Q3vB2uU.jpg

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Now this is where they start pissing me off with their non-answers and being so reluctant to help someone that has used their service extensively over several years. They keep telling me to talk to a tax professional but who could be more qualified as a tax professional other than my tax agency? I did tell them that this information is straight from them but they keep dodging the question so my final reply was this:

https://i.imgur.com/pA29tlY.jpg

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I did change my tone to see if they may budge and at least give me something if it seems I'm in need of it but nothing changed and this was their final response (I did not reply after this):

https://i.imgur.com/tyORVsf.jpg

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So what am I to take away from this? The only reason I had some hope was because they use the ".eu" domain and although that means nothing I was still surprised by their lack of replying to my very simple question. This is not something new with their support though as it's been like that for the better part of the last 3 years but I am very naive. I've never had issues with withdraws from them so it has nothing to do with that, it just seems shady that they would continously dodge the question and put it on me to figure it out.

Call it a rant but I'd like to know what the community thinks. They've been around for a while and they have a lot of action on their site so if all of it is done in the dark I'd expect them to either get shut down or get fined heavily one of these days and in that case I wouldn't want to have any balance on their site at all.

Transparency sake: It was my suggestion to open this thread. My take on it: Unless this is revealed, I will tag them. This is way too shady for me to reasonably trust that service provider. It is not like you're asking them to give you their home address.

It does come across shady; I get the first one just because I'm used to getting generic form letter replies the first response from companies. After that though it's a deliberate attempt to get you to drop the subject; they're hoping your stupid and get confused dealing with your tax professional.

Your last sentence is a valid concern, for anyone who plays there consistently and keeps a bankroll on the site. Hopefully they drop the charade and just give you an answer. My guess is if they ever provide info it will be for some lose law country in the end, regardless of where they are or started.

According to their website they are located in Costa Rica:

source (https://nitrogensports.eu/n/terms)


I can't find anything regarding gambling licenses or business registration on their website. A few review websites mention that they are owned by a company called Ideal Media Inc. and operates out of San Jose, Costa Rica. Can't find anything about the company itself.

They operate in costa rica, so looks like you'll need to pay that 30% tax. I don't like the way they are dealing with you emails, I'm assuming you've gambled and used their service a lot, and they way they are just pushing you away and dodging quite simple questions.

Do they have a gambling license? It seems like they might be avoiding these questions since they don't have an official license. Would be pretty shocking though, a pretty big gambling site without a license, and has active for years.

Lol so they operate in Costa Rica but isn't San Jose in California, as I just got my Cisco Certification Package and it says San Jose California or there are 2 San Joses in existence

It's possible for there to be duplicate city names. (i.e. the >20 Madisons in the US)

With San Jose, there are literally hundreds of places named thereof.

San José happens to be the capital of Costa Rica.

This convo is really funny to read. It's like talking to a brick wall. You tell them your tax advisor told you this and they are advising you to contact a tax advisor. Maybe there's a mentally handicapped person employed in Nitrogen's support? Dodgy or not, this situation shows that you may be forced to speak to that brick wall one day because your game got bugged or your deposit did not appear on your account.


In OP's case it doesn't change anything since it's definitely not in Europe.
Unfortunately, it seems that he will have to pay those taxes.

I've seen posts in here that states they are operating from Costa Rica, fine that's good and all but what more do we know? Why wouldn't the TWO (yes two different people replied to my emails) tell me that?

Also, to clarify, I don't mind paying my taxes, I just wanted clarification as it is needed and would make my life much easier.

Their TOS say that any dispute between you (their customer) and them are governed by Costa Rica law. I would say chances are they are incorporated in Costa Rica, but this may or may not be the case. I am not familiar with EU tax law, but I read this (https://www.casino.org/blog/comparing-gambling-taxes-around-the-world/) article, and it looks like European countries tax casino's gambling profits very heavily.

Anyway, I would be surprised if Nitrogensports has an actual office anywhere, and their servers are likely hosted by third parties. I would presume they don't want any of their executives/owners receiving parcels in the mail. It is for these collective reasons that I speculate they will not give you a direct answer.

Hhampuz, I could be wrong for suggesting this but as long as they’re trustworthy and go about their business in the correct manner - i.e. paying out every winner.....

Does it really matter if they don’t want to announce where they trade from?
It’s probably simply to avoid paying taxes themselves which I’m sure we all like to bend the truth a little to our taxman?

Another question - Why are you telling the taxman about your crypto activity?

:)

Probably because he lives in a country like myself, where it is illegal not to do so? :P

Ask them directly to provide you license number (that is all you need), it is non of their business for what you need it. They must provide you information, refusing to do so means they run unlicensed gambling site (if you reported to your tax office that your income came from them, that could give you additional troubles). Keep in mind that company and license are 2 different things.

Do it. If no response I'll be tagging.

The only reason to obtain a licence for a gambling (or any) business is if the country from which the business operates requires one.
Costa Rica doesn't appear to have any licencing system (https://fastoffshore.com/what-we-do/packaged-services/online-gambling-in-costa-rica/) or requirement for online gambling.


I'd have thought the evasive answers you are getting are just standing instructions to customer service staff, along the lines of "If you get any questions about tax, tell them to talk to a tax expert."

Good luck.

^Are they in Costa Rica?

This is not my first time to look at Nitrogensports' website and surprisingly I just notice that they don't show any kind of legal permits/badges for their gambling operation unlike gambling websites we have seen which they have in common to have a Curacao gaming license under their page you won't see any kind of license in their website. The most sketchiest thing is what TheNewAnon135246 have found and that is their company's profile information which doesn't really give anything at all.

I wouldn't bet on it  :D
But they certainly seem to want people to believe they are and, given the apparent regulatory freedom and zero tax, it makes a lot of sense. Better than that shit hole Curacao...



As far as proof is concerned, I have found no reference by them to their actual physical address (I haven't looked particularly hard), although there's this (https://www.sportsbookreview.com/sports-betting-news/bitcoin-sportsbook-nitrogen-sports-reviewed-49701/)


But also this (https://www.vbprofiles.com/companies/nitrogen-sports-5791fba83013c007ab0000a7)


But that address has three companies (https://www.companieshousedata.co.uk/a/860620) listed, none of which fit the profile.

Since extracting any kind of company information and legality in their website I did a domain lookup and well I hit another roadblock just like you guys since they are somehow protected by this "EURid" Database which does not allow me to "extract" on any kind of information in their gambling site besides their domain name which kinda tells me they are really protecting their company. I'm just surprised to see how a supposedly county in Costa Rica be protected on a European data base.


It's either you try to contact EURid and ask permission on obtaining their company's information or you go directly to the SEC of Costa Rica to verify if a NitrogenSports company exist in their country which I think is a much faster way to do since they have a given contact number in their website.

They registered the .eu domain via a Dublin services company and a German registrar, possibly using the London company I refer to above.
As well as them using Cloudflare (http://stuffgate.com/nitrogensports.eu), the new GDPR regulations are making it impossible to get any meaningful Whois data on anyone anymore.

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Edit: The London company appears to be a red herring, there was a Nitrogen Health registered at that address (https://www.findin.london/detail/nitrogen-health-london-514) but that was a legit health care company since taken over.
Nitrogensports being registered by an Irish company would qualify for the .eu domain anyway.

So they are most likely running it out of Costa Rica but could also be from GB? This sure is confusing lol.

Yeah, welcome to crypto gambling lol.
The only management names I found were Felix Arburola (https://www.linkedin.com/in/felix-arburola-79804b40?trk=org-employees_mini-profile_cta) who has been a minion in the Costa Rica sportsbook sector for years and the "co-founder and general manager" James Hampelton, who sounds pretty Brit.

Nitrogen sports blatantly lie ablut all of their promo offers. They only care if you're an American.
I heard that they freeze big accounts if you try to withdraw any amount. If you're not an American.

That's not at all what this thread is about. OP clearly not American has had  no issues gambling or withdrawing from their site. They are just shady and dodgy about simple jurisdictional questions; which don't really affect them.

The worst part is you're just spreading "information" you've heard, with no proof. Try to deliver substantiated claims and remain on-topic.

I have found cointelegraph's article dated in 2014. but couldn't find any info about him.

There are 3 accounts in  nitrogen's linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/company/nitrogen-sports/about/ but I don't see important position - chat moderator, support and one is some kind of security dude who seems work for one consulting or security company in U.S, but website is not online so probably it is not worth mention it.

Someone in this thread mentioned Ideal Media Inc and there are many affiliate sites mentioning that company, for example this one https://www.bitcoinsportsbooks.com/reviews/nitrogen-sports/

Linking to this website: https://idealmedia.com  :-\ but according to linkedin that company is in Manhattan https://www.linkedin.com/company/ideal-media-inc/about/

Maybe wrong link on affiliate site.

Company is also mentioned in this site https://www.vip-bet.com/bitcoin-betting-sites/nitrogen-sports-review/
And there is link to linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/3293788/?pathWildcard=3293788 but it is broken.

This also didn't give anything:
https://i.imgur.com/vh2wuui.png

Huh. Should this be in investigation? I mean, all this info is from shill sites except picture which doesn't reveal anything except some random companies.

With the past posts I see in this thread apparently just by digging deeper and deeper on their company's information it will just lead to more questions than answers. So if Hhampuz really wants to solve anything I think calling a hotline from where their domain is registered or even Costa Rica's SEC is the only way to go since their private info are well protected online. Either that or NitrogenSports comes forward here in the forum, and basing it on how marlboroza attempted (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=355081.msg50828927#msg50828927) to find out more info about the company I think that it would take some time for them to tell anything straight.

It usually goes this way:

"Where is your company"
"You can find info at our site"
"But I can't find address"
"Contact support (*gives email*)"
"I thought you are support  :-\"
"Yes, but contact our support"
"Ok. Hello support, where can we find your company's address"
"You can find info at our site"

And then you give up.

Had there been any lead or progress regarding what is to be done regarding this whole scenario? It is definitely shady for a comparatively big gambling website to ignore the same question over and over again, and go over the question asked.

Yeah, and that to me is a huge red flag.  Why would they be evasive about a simple question of corporate residency when asked by one of their customers?  It makes no sense to me and raises a lot of questions in my mind.

Yeah, it's crazy.  If you thought the wild west days of crypto were over, think again.  It amazes me that some fly-by-night casinos and exchanges (like Yobit) still conduct business without regulators shutting them down.  I'm not saying Nitrogensports is in that category, but their canned responses to a very simple inquiry here don't instill a lot of confidence in me that they're conducting business by the book.

It's a weird situation to judge. Unless they work on some transparency for their business it's hard to justify leaving any significant amount in their custody as a bankroll. At the same time though there haven't been any reported issues with deposits and withdrawals. So it really could come down to it's a question they don't often get pressed on, and until it becomes a large enough concern for them the current standard responses work fine for them.

I can't say I've really explored the Crypto Gambling market, so I don't know how other sites would answer the same questions.