Arbusers

Guys, as UK politicians becomes more sensitive to their electoral bodies, the country will become more hostile towards gambling in general. Now, they call it Affordability checks.In 10 years it could be religious sensitivities not allowing gambling. Really, could anyone explain why ICE moves to Barcelona?

ICE moves to barcelona because too high % of ICE visitors are stabbed/assaulted/robbed in London

treblepop wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 18, 2024 12:12 pm

ICE moves to barcelona because too high % of ICE visitors are stabbed/assaulted/robbed in London

There are other reasons for this.
- It is estimated that a trip to London is, on average, 800 euros more expensive than a trip to Barcelona for someone who comes from continental Europe. The level of prices is simply ridiculous in London. There will be a time the UK should get serious with this.
- The overall feeling that you get in London is not the same like the feeling say 10 years ago. The decadence is accelerating.
- There were some concerns in regards to the DNA of ICE. ICE was asked to hide its gambling identity if you know what I mean. Some people in London are very sensitive.
I m not saying that Barcelona is perfect, but for sure it offers a better, a safer, a cheaper, experience compared to London.

arbusers wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 18, 2024 2:05 pm

treblepop wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 18, 2024 12:12 pm

ICE moves to barcelona because too high % of ICE visitors are stabbed/assaulted/robbed in London

There are other reasons for this.
- It is estimated that a trip to London is, on average, 800 euros more expensive than a trip to Barcelona for someone who comes from continental Europe. The level of prices is simply ridiculous in London. There will be a time the UK should get serious with this.
- The overall feeling that you get in London is not the same like the feeling say 10 years ago. The decadence is accelerating.
- There were some concerns in regards to the DNA of ICE. ICE was asked to hide its gambling identity if you know what I mean. Some people in London are very sensitive.
I m not saying that Barcelona is perfect, but for sure it offers a better, a safer, a cheaper, experience compared to London.

Barcelona is getting dangerous day after day. Of course this is affecting the whole country, but with a special focus in Barcelona. Of course is not at the same level than London right now.....but..., wait some years...Barcelona is the most multicultural city from Spain, so the same problems that have now London, Paris, Brussels....are growing fast in Barcelona.

arbusers wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 18, 2024 2:05 pm

treblepop wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 18, 2024 12:12 pm

ICE moves to barcelona because too high % of ICE visitors are stabbed/assaulted/robbed in London

There are other reasons for this.
- It is estimated that a trip to London is, on average, 800 euros more expensive than a trip to Barcelona for someone who comes from continental Europe. The level of prices is simply ridiculous in London. There will be a time the UK should get serious with this.
- The overall feeling that you get in London is not the same like the feeling say 10 years ago. The decadence is accelerating.
- There were some concerns in regards to the DNA of ICE. ICE was asked to hide its gambling identity if you know what I mean. Some people in London are very sensitive.
I m not saying that Barcelona is perfect, but for sure it offers a better, a safer, a cheaper, experience compared to London.

I had a meeting with someone from the IGB Affiliate team today and I was told ICE are moving to Barcelona because the exhibitors were complaining about the costs associated with moving their equipment across water to the UK for the conference.

they need not of worried, they could just drop their equipment off in Calais and there they will find plenty of helpful gentlemen who will take it to the UK with them by sea, for a fee, of course

It is my understanding that some bookmakers are not happy with the implementation of this kind of financial risk checks in the UK. Be careful, they are not against checks, but they are against the checks that come down to the level of ridiculousness. This is especially for bookmakers with origins outside of the UK.
Also, I see a number of UK bookmakers looking to immigrate from the UK to the US. I believe in the next couple of years we will see traditional high street UK bookmakers reducing their business in the UK while expanding in the other side of the ocean. These bookmakers do not object to the checks vividly.
In the end, there are some bookmakers that do not object at all and they stay in absolute silence.

arbusers wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 20, 2024 11:56 am

In the end, there are some bookmakers that do not object at all and they stay in absolute silence.

Let's read between the lines.
Bet365.

blackjack wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 20, 2024 11:58 am

arbusers wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 20, 2024 11:56 am

In the end, there are some bookmakers that do not object at all and they stay in absolute silence.

Let's read between the lines.
Bet365.

This bookmaker, has if not the best, one of the best CEO's in the industry for sure.

A bookmaker recently asked a friend to use team viewer so they could together go through his bank account and check where his income comes from. As there is a possibility the case ends up in the court, I will not reveal the name of the bookmaker now.

While Frictionless Affordability Checks are up for debate in the Parliament, it came to my attention that certain actors and politicians believe that racing should be treated differently from sports betting when it comes to checks. These checks ''lead to significant job losses within rural constituencies''. In my view, the sports betting sector will suffer job losses too, so I see no reason for a different approach, if the only stake is job losses.

For those who are able to read. As you see, no Bet365 in the list.

The UKGC has announced the newly appointed members of what they call the Industry Forum to provide greater insights and feedback from licensed operators. I am not sure what the policies of arbusers are and what GDPR requires, so I hide the names and I only show the titles.

The former Chief Executive of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), was appointed as the first chair of the Forum. He will have a panel of 9 members:

Director of Public Affairs, MERKUR UK
Founder of BetSmart Consultancy
CEO and Founder of DoTrust Compliance
Director of Compliance, Flutter UK and Ireland
Media Director, Betfred
Managing Director of Britbet
Customer Operations Director, Entain PLC
Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of G.Games
Director of Public Affairs at Rank Group PLC

The first meeting of the Forum will be held on March 21st.

There are 2 big consequences of the Affordability Checks Witch-hunt. But these consequences do not become obvious at the same time.
1st, the racing industry will be destroyed to such an extent that no-one will be left behind to simply count the bodies. I am not sure if policy makers understand the size of the catastrophe they create and the number of people that will lose their job. Some estimates bring the number up to 60.000 jobs. Is the UK that relaxed to let 60.000 jobs go? Really? This catastrophe will be realised right after Cheltenham.
2nd, we see it in every day betting, the UK bettor is running for the very black offshore market. In the end, the UK bettor will lose his money because this market has the tendency to not pay winnings. If no-one is left to bet 2 pounds in a UK bookmaker, how many thousands of jobs will be lost?

Nature hates vacuum, some of us were taught in school. Did you notice the agents offering betting to Cheltenham races via their platforms?

I would like to expand my thought on this.

I believe we are watching in slow motion the collapse of the UK gambling scene. It is so unbelievably obvious that I find it difficult to believe that policy makers do not understand. Maybe there is something else hidden there.

The reliability of traditional high street bookmakers is collapsing. It is not only the frictionless BS, it is not only the limitation of any players ''suspected'' being smarter than average. Recently the cold blood confiscation of winnings is a routine.

I am wondering if there is anyone left to count bodies and if the UK gambling scene stays alive in 1-2 years from now.

A little gem of a bookmaker than I believe was only available in the UK closed down - Jabet. Their limits were small but still very useful at times and they did not close accounts.

Now after eight years we have made the difficult decision to close the JAbet.com website and stop trading. The main reasons are;


Regulatory changes : our customers do not fit the mould of what the UK Gambling Commission expect and excessive financial checks will be needed to satisfy upcoming regulations.
The costs of receiving the official feeds from the tennis bodies has increased dramatically squeezing our profit margins.