Online sportsbooks & the new UK Gambling law
By: SBR | Wednesday, September 10, 2014
New UK gambling law set to take effect 1 Oct 2014
Remote gambling operators must hold a license with UK Gambling Commission
Point of Consumption tax imposed as of 1 Dec 2014
What does this mean for players?
Major legislative changes are set to take effect in the UK — starting October 1 all online sportsbooks that cater to UK clients must be licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. This requirement is part of the UK Government's sweeping gambling reform which introduces the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act of 2014 (the "GLA") and amends existing law The Gambling Act, established in 2005. What does the new law mean for online sportsbooks and what do sports bettors need to know?

Prior to the GLA, online sportsbooks have only been required to hold a UK Gambling Commission license if they had remote gambling equipment located in Great Britain. The gaming sites were even allowed to advertise their business in the UK — provided they were subject to the laws of another EEA state (including Gibraltar) or a 'White List' jurisdiction, which includes the likes of Antigua and Barbuda, Alderney, and the Isle of Man.

Under the GLA all remote gambling operators must hold a license to offer any gambling service to UK residents; betting, bingo, casino, lottery, or even gambling software are included. The license itself comes with an application fee and an annual fee payable to the UK Gambling Commission. The fee is relative to the type and size of the gambling business. The deadline for these operators to apply for a license prior to the law taking effect on October 1 is September 15.

SBOBet and 12Bet have already announced a UK market exit, and the rumor mill suggests that at least one other high-profile sportsbook will also pull out of the UK ahead of the legislation taking effect.

Point of Consumption Tax
In addition to the license requirement and as of 1 December 2014, profits made by gambling operators on bets placed via the internet from players located in the UK will be subject to a 15% tax rate. There has been widespread criticism on the bill though the writing has been on the wall for some time. SBR reported in August of last year that Remote Gambling Association CEO Clive Hawkswood stated of the tax: "We knew it was coming. The focus for us now is on trying to get the actual rate of the tax reduced.”

The point of consumption tax has remained 15%, which comes as victory to the UK Government, but will undoubtedly have a profoundly negative effect in the online sportsbook industry as a whole as marketers, software providers, and ultimately players are likely to see their wallets tapped as companies balance their checkbooks against the exorbitant tax.

What does this mean for players?
Players who live outside of the United Kingdom are just as likely to feel the effects of the gambling tax reform as those inside. Online sportsbooks that choose to deal with the high tax rate and continue to service UK residents might opt to raise transaction fees associated with deposits or withdrawals, or even add a fee where there was not one before. And, of course there is a chance that if you're in the UK and you love playing with book XYZ, book XYZ might decide it does not do well enough financially in the UK market to justify the cost of the tax.

Enforcement of the UK Gambling Laws
How the UK Government and the Gambling Commission intend to police the industry remains unclear. The government could order internet service providers to block access to websites that refuse to cease serving UK residents whilst skirting the licensing obligation; there may be significant civil or even criminal consequences.

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Team Selection
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This guy peeps place would sell his own mother for a few bucks.

Proven to be on some books payrolls yet denies it.

His grading system is as bunk as they come

since when does Pinnacle accept BTC? Or are you talking about agent accounts at Pinnacle?

We've stated in the past that it doesn't really matter to us whether to settle UFC ties and Basketball Quarter and Half time ties as a push or as dead heat and that we are open to changes.

Seeing that some of you here are not satisfied with the current rule and in an effort to utilize the most commonly used rule, we took the decision to change these two rules and push tied bets instead of using the dead heat rule.

A formal announcement will be made later on today.

As for the rule in regards to postponed Baseball games, no change will be made because we believe that it is better to have the same rule all year long. Furthermore, this rule is in-line with our postponed games rule on other sports.

Why do you think that it is better to have two different rules, one for the regular season and one for postseason ?

This bet was not on which player will finish higher than Djokovic. It can't be such a bet because when you placed it Djokovic was already eliminated from the tournament and it was determined that Kei Nishikori will finish in a higher position.

I sent you a PM with further information and clarification.

Allow me to point to a peepsplace thread on the subject:

http://www.peepsplace.com/showthread.php?t=429713

Besides the actual details of the complaint what you can see is that in July 2013 so we're talking mid baseball season (last season) the rules were:

Pinnacle:


BetCris:


So both Pinnacle and Bookmaker were using a rule other than the one you consider universal. Fwiw Tipico (largest in turkey) also has the same rule. Pinnacle and Bookmaker have changed their rules multiple times. It appears no one can decide how they want to handle those. Pinnacle has done it (changes) and stuck to what the rules were at the time bets were placed. Bookmaker seems to have changed them twice both in the middle dispute (second accusation of that). Now to be clear perhaps they settled the dispute and changed it. I don't know (this here isn't to accuse them - though was at bare minimum some low level support issues were had).

The point I'm trying to make is perhaps directbet has some to learn about bookmaking and rules, perhaps you as well in looking at rules and judging books off them. The baseball rule is a) fair, b) has been used at other sites - I mean was even the case at Pinnacle and Bookmaker - two large limit outs. This one is a pass. Yes DirectBet's version is the less common rule, but they are not alone. There are dozens of places action continues till when the game resumes. On that one I think you two should kiss and make up

Pinnacle Sports does not recognize postponed games, protests or overturned decisions for wagering purposes. As long as the event is played on the schedule day, all bets have action

Up until yesterday. Bookmaker's rules this season stated they held the bets for 7 days. They are in Costa Rica, no?

And

the online world is much bigger than Costa Rica and Vegas who are actually relatively small players in the grand scheme.

And

as long as the rule is consistent that one is fair.

I'm not sure their rule but some books keep changing the suspended game rule on the fly. About a year ago there was a dispute with Bookmaker.eu because the first time this happened in a while they changed their rules specific to that game. In this case the bets carried over to the next day but wasn't what the rules said would happen. Then later they changed the rule again. It was a very valid complaint but SBR banned the poster and deleted the thread.  At the time was "don't worry it will work out for you next time". Well Bookmaker has altered their rules several times since and neither here nor there. Well this past week there was a game that restarted the next day. When the bet was made, till after it settled, till the player requested to talk to managers multiple times, Bookmakers rules clearly said that if the game is scheduled to resume within 7 days the bets stand (so they keep the bet pending up to 7 days if known will be replayed). This was shown both on their live wager rules and on their main baseball rules. A player has a dispute over a large sum. Guess what happens? Bookmaker alters the rule page and adds word playoffs to imply this only applies to playoff games. That is NOT how the rule read. By what was published on their website they owe a large payout.

Anyways Pinnacle has also had different rules at different times but were fair. Didn't change them after the fact. So point is, yes some sites do or had held bets up to 7 days (let alone 3) so that is far from universal. Secondly, bonus points to a site that is consistent with their rules on how that is handled as it is not standard. (it is a big world out there and bitcoin is global - nothing wrong with that baseball rule, and thus is not an issue.

The dead heat rule however is so unorthodox and something I never heard of before. It is also not fair. It doesn't just net out. The reason is because the push probabilities held are not equal on each side. It adds a new dynamic to handicapping where people always just cap push+win together. It's not one of those oh wow I didn't know okay next time I know and it was fair. Unless this is bold in red and a way players completely understand, I would call that one bordering on being a dishonest attempt to profit by including unorthodox rules. It is their business and they are free to do as they like, but would certainly view them negatively for doing that.

Looks like Webetcoins has now paid all players.

The odds closed -137 at ToteSport and BetFred (the online division of the 4th and 5th largest UK brick and mortars). It closed at -133 at Tipico (largest servicing turkey). At William Hill (largest in UK, Largest in USA) it was -137 hours before the match but closed -125. There was for sure better out there, a lot better. But Pinnacle had a 6 cent line on this match (-103 base) other bookies operate with vig. The odds were valid and similar to what many other sources had, and even better than those closers at major books I mentioned. The bet is valid. The terms are valid, the odds are correct. Not sure the issue here?

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With those odds the bet makes no sense.

A pre-tourney No Djokovic would mean player has to win or finish 2nd if Djok wins. But, that's pretty fked up for a tennis tourney with Nishikori on the same side of the draw. He can't finish 2nd to Djok, so any cut odds for eliminating Djok from the field is just a theft for guys on his side.

The odds were a bad price for the final today (closed -110 at pinny). I'm guessing something got fked up and it was a price for todays match just entered into the wrong event?

Of course it won't be refunded. The bet was lost fairly.
You're saying that the odds were low? It was his own choice to make this bet.

You are way off base tonight. It's written as the U.S. Open began on 8-25.
Every ticket for these types of events (if you remember the Wolrd Cup), every single one lists the opening day of the event.

You were caught being wrong. I posted the blockchain timestamp. You're better off leaving while you're way behind.