www.CostaRicaTicas.com

The latest piece of the puzzle of the U.S. closing in on offshore internet has taken place,and it is a big piece. Netteller,the publicly traded cash transfer operation has succombed to pending U.S. legislation,and they are no longer accepting cash transfer business from U.S. locations. An article in todays AM Costarica says that they were a $7 BILLION annual business used by many sports books for client transfers of funds. The noose is tightening around the necks of sportsbooks doing business in the U.S.

I used Neteller to play poker on Bodog. (derogatory comment about our President deleted)

I found a way to get around it. Suffice to say, I am still playing at Bodog.

Nothing will be done about as long as there are other ways to bet/play online, whether it's using a different transfer service or a credit card. The day that all avenues of gambling are closed to US residents, that's when there will be an uprising by both the companies taking the bets/poker who will be losing billions and US citizens who want to bet/play, but no longer can AT ALL. Then they will just have to follow the American way, bride our politicians (through capaign contributions/lobbying/etc) to get them to vote a certain way.

This is tuff for us internet players. Lots of good info on ways to get around this on the 2+2 poker forum. In Atl. the home games pull a 10% rake no cap.Mississippi is 5 hours away one more reason to spend more time in CR.

No cap? Are they insane? That means that a $200 pot the rake is $20!

Here in NYC, all the underground poker houses got shut down last summer, but with this new legislation and the amount of money to be made, they figure it's worth the risk so they opened up 3 new ones recently. The cool thing is that it's LEGAL to play there, just not legal to run it or work there. The worst that can happen is you lose your money, but I would never take more than a cien or two, so it's a calculated risk. But I prefer online anyway. I do better than live games, and I like to play in my pajamas.

Atlantic City or Foxwoods are 2+ hours away in either direction. No thanks.

Here's something else in today's Inside Costa Rica, regarding another company:
Skybook Sold to an Undisclosed Group
Rumors began to circulate out of Costa Rica on Monday that something was going on at Skybook, the flagship brand of the Rio Group. Several online gambling posting forums were buzzing that Skybook had laid off their entire staff. Online sportsbook watchdog website TheOnlineWire.com broke the news to Point-Spreads.com that Skybook was indeed sold. The new owner has yet to announce the acquisition.

The news sent panic to sports bettors already reeling from Pinnacle Sports unexpected exit from the US market. This month alone has been a roller coaster ride for bettors. A few days after Pinnacle Sports announced their departure from the US market, the founders of NETeller were arrested and charged with tax evasion and money laundering. Both Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre are out on bail and have stated they will fight the charges. NETeller left the US market a few days later and other online gambling payment solution providers such as Citadel Commerce followed.

Skybook was one of the offshore sportsbook pioneers and has been around since the start of internet betting back in 1997. Their betting lines were among the first to appear on USA Today's Odds board and they were widely considered to be one of the more financially stable operations in the industry with a stellar payout record.

For the most part the Rio Group has flown under the radar by focusing on direct mail marketing and internet based initiatives. The only exception to that was when the Las Vegas hotel and casino operator Rio Properties, Inc. sued the Rio Group for infringement on their trademark a few years ago. The court entered a default judgment in favor of the Rio Properties in the case and the Rio Group stopped using urls associated with the name Rio.

_________________
You ALWAYS have an option ....... "NEXT" !!!