How to bet abroad?

Welcome!
Many countries regulate online gambling activities including sports betting. These regulations are intended to ensure that players do not develop a gambling addiction and to better protect them. Betting outside the state jurisdiction is exactly the same thing as betting with bookmakers who have an Irish betting licence except that when you win more money, you will win much more. It’s as simple as that.

For those among you who are in a hurry, here is a summary of credible operators for betting as an released punter :

Operator	Abstract	Discover
bookmaker ➕ my review	This operator is very interesting (choice, odds, bonus, simplicity) and available for Irish players.	Learn more
bookmaker ➕ my test	This sports betting site is an international giant and is the only one to accept all punters (except from the U.K. and the U.S.) without a VPN. They have super odds, high limits, a wide selection, eSports, and withdrawals are processed in three days (CB and bank transfer)	Learn more
broker ➕ my test	This broker, in addition to offering a Pinnacle and Orbit (Betfair market) account, also gives users access to BLACK software which picks the best odds in real-time from among the largest operators (+15).	Learn more
broker ➕ my test	This is is a credible broker who’s also the most widely known and recognized. Pinnacle, Orbit (Betfair market), multi-bookmakers tool. Perfect for starting out and if you have a Neteller account.	Learn more

Is it illegal to bet with an operator that have a licence outside Ireland?

Indeed, most of the time you can bet offshore with the same bookmakers as you would use at home ; except that since they will be with a .com site, they will include a considerably larger number of players. This will obviously increase the odds, and so, as previously explained, increase your winnings too. All sites that end in .com are, by definition, sites without a Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland licence. They are supposed to forbid you from playing on their sites if you reside in a country that has its own regulations on sports betting (meaning that your computer or your telephone is based in this country when you're connecting to the application). Even if you do have an address in the United States, it will not be of any use in enabling you to gamble offshore.

Are you unsure about betting on a .com website?
Here are the main reasons to take the leap:

• Odds at +10% to 50% (including on some of the more obscure sports)
• Innovative betting options (Asian handicap, Over/Under on half-time, 1 inning and more) greater,
• +++ choice of games,
• +++ choice of competitions,
• Real live-betting,
• Betting exchanges,
• Esports, loyalty rewards, high betting limits,...

Of course you always have the option of boarding a plane and taking a flight to the destination of your choice (a beach in Malibu, why not?) and play online there from your smartphone while sipping a Pina Colada. But you can also choose to stay at home to gamble offshore, or even to travel from anywhere if you are abroad and to still gamble from here on online betting sites that don’t have a licence in Ireland.

These sites are legal, , but they are simply not permitted to accept you. Since your country doesn’t have the same restrictive measures, which some countries like China have, they cannot prevent a site from virtually entering into their territory. Conversely, the government compels bookmakers to refuse you as a player or else they may face harsh sanctions. On the other hand, if they do accept you, you are not risking anything: you aren’t technically at fault since it was the bookmaker’s responsibility to deny you entry.

However, some bookmakers are stubborn and will always refuse to accept you. Why? Because they have everything to lose! In fact, if you do succeed in getting accepted, so much the better for you; the state can’t do anything about it and, more importantly, they shouldn’t. It’s the bookmaker who is at fault*. Contrary to what known legislation has been able to show us over time, online, it’s not the customer who is involved, but actually those hosting the client. This has flaws of course, especially on illegal sites advocating Jihadism for example.
* A note of caution, however; a few governments such as Germany fined its players for not betting on sites with a URL ending in .de. How these players are found remains a mystery.

But for online betting, it’s the magical loophole: you’ll be immune to lawsuits. You won’t exactly be in compliance with the law, but you won’t be breaking it either. It’s something like being in a lawless zone. Obviously it’s at your own risk and peril, but keep in mind that some bookmakers, even with a licence from your government, are anything but safe nevertheless they prefer paying fines and reaping the benefits of having a licence rather than give it up.

What is a local licence?

But what does this licence have that is so appealing from the bookmaker’s perspective ? Like almost every thing that has value in this world: possessing a licence brings an enormous amount of money to bookmakers who have one. The reason for this, of course, is that licenced bookmakers have exclusive control on the market in Ireland since they are the only legal ones. Consequently most players don’t consider the implications and play according to the designated rules. But on top of that, they’re paid for doing it!

In fact, all local licence beneficiaries share the amount allocated by the state amongst themselves (public money from taxpayers) which means that they redistribute millions of euros to themselves each year. This is one of the primary reasons for boycotting the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland.

They’re being paid by your government to guarantee applying regulations hat they already apply anyway, even abroad. Because, make no mistake, most bookmakers who publicize on your screens also exist abroad, but with a second version called a mirror site, just to earn the right to publicize. A mirror site, in certain respects is much like a private hall, a server specially designed to be identical to the global server in every way except that entry is restricted to Irish residents only.

The real reason why licensed bookmakers seek to be the only ones permitted to advertise is because they hope to flood the market in order to prevent you from looking elsewhere. As is often the case, when people make a lot of noise, it’s because they have something to hide. So what’s the reality? Well it’s very simple, sites outside the state jurisdiction are much more exciting for players. And for bookmakers too, for that matter!

If it were possible for them to dominate a country’s market without having to create a different server and to obey restrictions for their players and to pay additional specific taxes, they would lose interest. This is the government’s justification for paying them millions of euros, because if bookmakers weren’t being paid they would have quite simply abandoned Ireland market because it would prove too unprofitable for them compared to other countries.

Betting internationally: the solution

You can choose to find a bookmaker who will accept you despite the legislation, but it’s not recommended. Bookmakers who are so fraudulent right from the outset also put themselves at risk of all kinds of scams and you could quickly lose a lot. Furthermore, bookmakers operating outside the law are usually smaller and you may never see your money again: these bookmakers are in absolute non-compliance with the law.

The government would be delighted to have another reason to shut them down (but they receive so many complaints that they can’t handle them all, so then thousands of players like you would have to be scammed before the site could be shut down. And again, only if it is not located in a country where the legislation protects them).

Therefore you’ll need to turn to the two most sustainable options: VPNs or brokers.