Betfair nomad

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PartsUnknown
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2019 4:10 pm

Hello all,

As someone in a Betfair-restricted, non-EU country, I am looking at alternatives and was wondering if anyone is familiar with the following situation.

My question is, if I were to relocate to the UK as a visitor for several months, rent a flat for the duration of the stay and open a UK bank account, would there be anything preventing me from registering a UK-based Betfair account despite having a passport in a restricted country?

I've heard of many online pro poker players from countries like USA etc who have gone to the UK as tourists and resumed their activity on various poker sites during their stay without any problems, and once their 6 months expire they simply move onward to other non-restricted countries in nomadic style.

I haven't heard much about people doing this to trade on Betfair, so I thought I'd ask here if it's a viable option.

Any input would be very appreciated.
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Jim Royle
Posts: 67
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2019 3:21 pm

absolutely not , you dont need a passport to open a betfair account just a uk address and a couple of utility bills should suffice
sa7med
Posts: 800
Joined: Thu May 18, 2017 8:01 am

Not sure if this works but you could look into getting e-citizenship from estonia and operating on betfair as a business. They give you an estonian bank account and access to the single market. Betfair is also legal in estonia. Worth a shot.

https://e-resident.gov.ee/
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PartsUnknown
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2019 4:10 pm

Appreciate your responses!

I did just get confirmation from Betfair support that there should be no problem from a KYC perspective as you stated, Jim. Good to know!

I hadn't considered the e-Residency option! Estonia has such a refreshing forward-thinking approach to remote work and the digital world in general, I find. Will certainly keep this in mind if the UK option doesn't work out.

Thanks again to both of you.
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PartsUnknown
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2019 4:10 pm

Any suggestions for a gambling-friendly (relatively speaking of course) UK bank to do business with? I used to hear good things about Lloyds back in the day, but after seeing Peter's video I'm not so sure. Preferably a bank that has branches in Scotland.
mobius
Posts: 203
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2017 10:15 am

Paypal - under Betfair.com/Deposit/Payments/Alternative Methods/.........
If you use a UK bank - it gets flagged. As far as I am aware Paypal is "discreet".
offlimit88
Posts: 68
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2019 2:29 pm

sa7med wrote:
Wed Dec 18, 2019 3:52 pm
Not sure if this works but you could look into getting e-citizenship from estonia and operating on betfair as a business. They give you an estonian bank account and access to the single market. Betfair is also legal in estonia. Worth a shot.

https://e-resident.gov.ee/
That's interesting. But how can you prove that you are resident in Estonia? I mean, isn t this the real problem, proving that you are phisically betting from a non restricted country?
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PartsUnknown
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2019 4:10 pm

offlimit88 wrote:
Tue Dec 24, 2019 1:25 pm
That's interesting. But how can you prove that you are resident in Estonia? I mean, isn t this the real problem, proving that you are phisically betting from a non restricted country?
I agree, the "e-citizenship" document in itself is far from a solution, quite meaningless from an account verification standpoint. The banking component, however, would appear to provide a critical (albeit small) piece of the puzzle for someone savvy and courageous enough to establish a "trading business" with physical servers set up in Estonia etc.

I've heard some crazy stories over the last decade about the lengths some people have gone to in order to trade on Betfair. Never forget how fortunate you guys are to have won the passport lottery.
Butterfly777
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2020 4:16 pm

Hallo PartsUnknown,


I guess I'm in a similar situation like you and wanted to ask if you were successful by now?
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PartsUnknown
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2019 4:10 pm

Butterfly777 wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 4:22 pm
I guess I'm in a similar situation like you and wanted to ask if you were successful by now?
Sorry for the delayed response. I had everything lined up to relocate in March for 6 months, but COVID-19 put a quick stop to that plan.

The likelihood of a second wave this fall/winter is far too high to even consider doing this until mid-2021... at least in my situation.

BTW if you decide to go this route, there's a service that specifically helps sports bettors & poker players relocate, they take care of everything and help you avoid all the pitfalls in the process... they've been around for over a decade. If you're interested send me a PM and I'll send you their contact info.
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Kai
Posts: 6092
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2015 12:21 pm

PartsUnknown wrote:
Sat May 16, 2020 5:33 pm
..there's a service that specifically helps sports bettors & poker players relocate, they take care of everything and help you avoid all the pitfalls in the process... they've been around for over a decade. If you're interested send me a PM and I'll send you their contact info.
PMed you about the service you mention, I'd be more than interested in hearing more about it.
pa69
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Mar 20, 2021 6:07 am

PartsUnknown wrote:
Sat May 16, 2020 5:33 pm
Butterfly777 wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 4:22 pm
I guess I'm in a similar situation like you and wanted to ask if you were successful by now?
Sorry for the delayed response. I had everything lined up to relocate in March for 6 months, but COVID-19 put a quick stop to that plan.

The likelihood of a second wave this fall/winter is far too high to even consider doing this until mid-2021... at least in my situation.

BTW if you decide to go this route, there's a service that specifically helps sports bettors & poker players relocate, they take care of everything and help you avoid all the pitfalls in the process... they've been around for over a decade. If you're interested send me a PM and I'll send you their contact info.
Hi

I live in EU but in a Betfair-restricted country .

I'm very interested about that service too
Masterbanker
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2021 7:31 pm

Hi I found your post as I’m looking to do exactly what you did. I tried to send you a PM get the service info but it won’t let me as a new user. Can you please help me? Thanks!
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