Do any laws help players in offshore countries?

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Sco

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Hi.

I'm new here, play a bit of poker here and there, but am fascinated by the online game. To me it seems really risky with loads of problems. My main question is are there any laws available for PLAYERS who are accused of say cheating, and do not get thier money? This obviously is for people in the UK and US, I mean is there anything they can do other than a nice email?

Also if a poker site closed down and stole a persons money, could they use any laws (thats if the owners could be traced)

thanks if anyone can shed any light on this.

Sco
 
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Sco

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can none help with this problem?

Thanks
Andy
 
Four Dogs

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I was hoping someone else would field this one. Most gaming sites are based out of server farms where they are just one out of hundreds. These server farms are located in countries or indian reservations where gambling is permitted by law and each of the gaming sites must abide by the regulations established by the local authority as if they were in fact brick and mortar entities within their borders. IF cheating or illicit practices can be established and IF that local authority is dilligent in prosecuting such behavior then I suppose in theory legal action can be taken.(Big IFs) The best protection, is not to get involved with questionable sites to begin with. Avoid sites with no discernable licencing authority and sites based in locations with weak or possibly corrupt oversite of the server farms. My favorite licencing authority, as most members here know, is the Khanawake Gaming Commission based on the Kahnawake Mohawk Indian Reservation in Quebec canada. It is home base for the most well established American owned poker sites and therefore has the most to lose by allowing corrupt gaming sites to continue on their servers.
 
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Crippler450

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Sorry Andy, there is pretty much no help for a player who would get cheated. There aren't any laws or regulations over these sites, and they are based overseas. But this likely wont happen because they dont want to ruin their reputation by screwing over a few players. They are running a business and will probably make profit if they keep customers happy.

Just play on the bigger sites with more players and you will almost surely be ok. Choose a site to play on such as royal vegas, which has great live customer support, or a very large site like party poker and you will be fine.

(note: Stay away from Pokerhost if you will be depositing real money. I have heard many stories of players attempting to cash out, then being told that they will not be paid because of some loophole. One person on another forum even said that the staff told them that the site could not 'afford' to pay them their money so they were not able to cash out. They are also horrible for cashouts with huge requirements and little to no customer support)
 
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rk92559

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I was told, the only recourse you would have is to travel to that country and file suit in their courts. In other words, you are screwed! I have a friend, that in the early years of internet betting, he was up 17,000 betting on football. When he kept tryin to collect, never could. He was told by someone they were shutdown by some government agency. He was out of luck.
 
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xdmanx007

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OK... In short if you are in the US you are breaking the law by wagering online, so that means if you are in the US it is "bettor beware"!! The UK has somewhat embraced online gambling so if you live there then you have a much better chance of resolving a dispute. The laws governing online wagering are, as has been said, dependent upon where the servers are located. Costa Rica is big time, with pokerstars, Paradise, among others and if you have a problem with a site regulated by them GOOD FRIGIN LUCK getting anything done along with Curacao anyways as I ramble on..... My dawg gives excellent advice stick to the big boys and you are less likely to have issues
 
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Cheers guys for the response. I'm from the UK, and the onl;y poker site I ever go on is bet365 poker, which has always been good to me, so i'm not gonna change. As this is for a dissertation, I'm looking at how people get screwed, and in particular cannot get money out but cant do anything about it. I'm trying to think of a solution to this problem?

The only thing I can think of is to have a legal and regulatory framework in these offshore countries which are to the same standard as the brick ones like L.Vagas. This should be governerned by (some) world gambling commission if there is one? It would also help loads if the US would follow the UK's position and regulate the damn thing.

Sco
 
robwhufc

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rk92559 said:
I was told, the only recourse you would have is to travel to that country and file suit in their courts. In other words, you are screwed! I have a friend, that in the early years of internet betting, he was up 17,000 betting on football. When he kept tryin to collect, never could. He was told by someone they were shutdown by some government agency. He was out of luck.
As per this post, as far as i'm aware gambling debts are unenforecable by law (at least in UK). If you are UK based and concerned, I would stick to sites run by established UK bookmakers, and avoid having too much on any one site (not a problem for me!).
 
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