money transfer

What is the best/safest method for transferring money to bodog? I live in the USA and they keep telling me my credit card is blocked.

Doesn't your best friend from (other country) need a new car? It sure would be nice if you sent your friend money to help with that completely unrelated financial situation.

It's illegal to gamble online in the U.S. It's illegal for Bodog to take money from U.S. persons.

I just figured there are ways around it. Otherwise bodog wouldn't be advertised here.

I don't know if they still do it, but I think a lot of people go around this through prepaid Visa cards and the like. The problem of course is the transaction fee you generally pay. I think some banks will "sell" these to you, but you have to make sure they're international ones, not domestic, as I understand it. This is second-hand knowledge, as a buddy of mine used to place football bets on Bodog and another site.

Good luck. And caveat emptor.

You should call their customer support for suggestions. It may come down to sending money orders by express mail.

Quote: rdw4potus

It's illegal to gamble online in the U.S. It's illegal for Bodog to take money from U.S. persons.

(emphasis mine)

Says who, exactly? UIGEA (do a search for my earlier thread on this) does not make it illegal to gamble. It makes it illegal to fund gambling activities that are already illegal. The feds couldn't reference a federal law against gambling when they indicted the heads of PokerStars, Full Tilt, et al. They had to reference a New York State law in order to even justify the UIGEA.

(That said, I imagine that the bank fraud charges will stick. There was some shady stuff that went down)

Regardless, it sucks that Bodog is leaving, though I can't blame them. Stupid American government.. *grumble*

The real problem is the Gov't wants us to:
A.) have a game where affiliates (any third party) are not paid upon our losses
B.) have a game that cannot be manipulated by any entity
C.) have a game without variable odds unless posted in advance
D.) have a game that simulates real-play (ie: the cards are not shuffled during play: once shuffled and cut, the cards speak)
E.) provide tax information about gains and losses every 3 months

Do we have all of these yet?

NO

N&B

Quote: NandB

The real problem is the Gov't wants us to:
A.) have a game where affiliates (any third party) are not paid upon our losses
B.) have a game that cannot be manipulated by any entity
C.) have a game without variable odds unless posted in advance
D.) have a game that simulates real-play (ie: the cards are not shuffled during play: once shuffled and cut, the cards speak)
E.) provide tax information about gains and losses every 3 months

Do we have all of these yet?

NO

N&B

Eh, I'm not sure that's what the government wants. That may be the cover for the two main problems with internet gambling, in the eyes of the government, and perhaps more importantly, politicians.
1) How does the government make money on gambling transactions taking place online? (REAL ANSWER)
2) How do you prevent children and protect the moral integrity of society from gambling online? (THE POLITICIAN'S ANSWER)

When it comes right down to it, #1 is the reason online gambling is "illegal" or made to be thought of as "illegal."

It's the reverse for cigarettes/tobacco. The government knows smoking is bad, making companies put labels on the packs, and jump through MONSTER hoops. Yet, they don't outlaw tobacco. Why? THEY MAKE TOO MUCH MONEY ON TAXES. So instead of doing the right thing (outlawing smoking completely), they make it appear that the government cares about the health of its constituents.

Quote: Tiltpoul

So instead of doing the right thing (outlawing smoking completely).

Although the majority of people don't smoke, including me, the right thing is not to outlaw it. We live in a "free" country and we have incrementally had our rights taken away every time the government feels it needs to protect us from ourselves.

The government should no more outlaw smoking as they should outlaw skateboarding. I think that internet gambling falls in this as well. People need some individual responsibility. Unfortunately, this country has raised it's people to not have this responsibility: we pay for healthcare for smokers and we allow gamblers to discharge bad debt in bankruptcy.

Quote: CrystalMath

Although the majority of people don't smoke, including me, the right thing is not to outlaw it. We live in a "free" country and we have incrementally had our rights taken away every time the government feels it needs to protect us from ourselves.

The government should no more outlaw smoking as they should outlaw skateboarding. I think that internet gambling falls in this as well. People need some individual responsibility. Unfortunately, this country has raised it's people to not have this responsibility: we pay for healthcare for smokers and we allow gamblers to discharge bad debt in bankruptcy.

Absolutely. My argument is that it's easy for the government to ban smoking in all public and private places (eventually including casinos, btw), criminalize smokers for doing their business in public, and yet still be legal to smoke. They are trying to play both sides of the coin; Heads- "Oh, smoking is bad, it's bad for you, bad bad bad bad bad" Tails- "We need the money, both from big tobacco paying for our campaigns, and the ridiculously high taxes we charge on selling them. GO TOBACCO!"

Back to the internet gaming. The government may SAY "Yeah, we don't want our people to be fleeced by bad bad bad bad bad people overseas." At the same time, they are figuring out a way to get their hand in the pot. They have to play the morality card too, since there is a faction of people out there (much larger than anti-smokers) who abhor gambling.

I'm not saying the interests aren't real; I am also concerned about underage internet gambling. But the forces that are trying to stop it are only using that as a cover until they can figure out a way to get a cut. Representatives need votes to stay in office, so they appeal to the popular morality argument, as the other side usually doesn't make it a single voting issue (I have; I did not vote for Blagojavich in Illinois because of his stance on gambling in Illinois. Turned out I made a good vote against!)

Unfortunately for players with money tied up in offshore accounts, some of which is not accessible (see the Full Tilt thread), banks place blocks and refuse to send out money. This makes it difficult for people... and the cycle begins again.

However, I do have these caveats,
1.) there are ways to *deposit* money (ie int'l money order via private mailing) but the *withdrawl* does not offer the same method.
2,) said deposit merely asks you for set "A" of ID. Set "A" is enough to put $$$ in., and is *unacceptable* for withdrawl.

N&B

I haven't played at Bodog in months, but when I did, I always used the phone card thing. Looking at their Cashier today, though, it doesn't look like that's an option anymore. They are offering to let you fund through something called MyPaylinq which claims to allow you to fund through a Visa or Mastercard. I haven't tried it or seen anyone else comment on it, that I can think of. But I read over MyPaylinq's T&C and didn't see anything specifically excluding users from the US, so it might be worth a shot.

First you have to win, then you have to hope to collect ? Yeah, just the kind of game I'm looking for. NOT!!!!