My best investment ever

[pixmaster]

With all the Anti Gambling stuff going on in the US, I decided some time ago to slowly expand my business and be prepared for everything.
So I paid a company and translated my website in French and soon I will have it done in German, Spanish, Italian and maybe asian languages too.

More and more affiliate programs are adding extra languages and tools to target these countries (some of them even pay extra to bring these customers in). So its pretty easy even if I don't speak the language to add banners and reviews etc.

What do you guys think?

[pixmaster]

BTW the company that translated my website is www.Leksiko.com - I forgot to mention that.

They did a VERY good job translating all: text, images, alt text, some research for me etc.
And next week they will have my Metatags done and submit manually to French search engines and directories.

Ask for a free quote - the price was way lower than I excpected to pay for all this, including submissions and the results were amazing.

[kidd75219]

What about updates and changes? Will that company translate those also?

[Breakfastman]

Just remember that both online gambling AND advertising online gambling are forbidden in most EU countries.
Example: all operators have to block Dutch players from playing. About 120 have been brought to court for it.

So.... marketing the EU can be profitable, but be warned!

[pixmaster]

What about updates and changes? Will that company translate those also?

most casinos offer reviews, banners etc so I'm sure it will be pretty easy to do that. Plus I think that I can even ask the casino operators to help.
Of course if its a huge change like a whole new section on my website of course I will pay them again to translate it. Trust me its not as expensive as you think and I take my business very seriously.

[pixmaster]

Just remember that both online gambling AND advertising online gambling are forbidden in most EU countries.
Example: all operators have to block Dutch players from playing. About 120 have been brought to court for it.

So.... marketing the EU can be profitable, but be warned!

I am not in the EU so I think I will be fine.
I am doing all that not only to increase my income, but to also be ready when/if the s**t hits the fan.

[Breakfastman]

All these casinos were not based in the EU either, but still they were forced to block all Dutch players....

just telling you to be careful!

[spinoza]

AND advertising online gambling are forbidden

Breakfastman, are you sure about this? I know some online casinos were brought to court in Holland, but wasn't this for offering online gambling to dutch citizens and not for advertising it !?

But supose it's also illegal to *advertise* online gambling to dutch gamblers, would it also be illegal to target different non EU markets (where the advertiser is located in Holland)

[pixmaster]

yes advertising online gambling is illegal IF you are an EU citizen and your website is residing in the EU.
But of course you can host your site and set up a company anywhere else in the world and be just fine.

[pixmaster]

All these casinos were not based in the EU either, but still they were forced to block all Dutch players....

just telling you to be careful!

yes I understand what you are saying and I am aware of the situation. Especially since you already have your site translated in dutch and french I guess you know what's going on.
At the end I think its the casino's problem more than mine. They have to take care of stuff like setting up banks that accept EU credit cards, legality issues, blocked players etc.

[Breakfastman]

Spinoza> Yes, you can find the full (Dutch) text of the current law at:
xhttp://wetten.overheid.nl/cgi-bin/deeplink/law1/title=Wet%20op%20de%20Kansspelen/

Article 1b states: "It is forbidden to publish or own material to increase participation in activities mentioned under 1a"
The only way I can read this, is that it's illegal to advertise gambling at a place that does not have a Dutch license.

The previous discussion about this was here:
https://www.gpwa.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11067

Pixmaster> Unfortunately it has nothing to do with being a EU citizen or not. It depends if the country you operate from has an agreement with the EU-country where the 'crime' is committed.
Example: here in Holland, it's legal to buy soft-drugs. However, if I put it in an envelope and send it to the US, the US will request the NL government to send me over and I will be brought to court in the US. That's because the US have an agreement about exchanging criminals with the EU. These kind of rules work the other way around aswell.
I know this from a lawyer who defended a casino operator based on Curacao. Unfortunately they were brought to court in Holland and had to obey the Dutch law in this case.

Yes, my portal is in both French and Dutch. However, you will never find me buying ad-space in France or Holland... too tricky. I'm not targetting France or Holland.... I'm targetting Dutch and French speaking persons outside the EU!
The only advice I can give you is: go ahead, but be carefull and certainly don't expect miracles from the EU market.

[confused]

I am not an EU citizen but live in the EU. Do you all host in the US or somewhere else? Where do you suggest hosting to avoid most legal issues?

If you are actively blocking players from a specific country (ie dutch) how are you doing it? Do you have a script I can look at?