Quote from: sherbyspark on June 16, 2015, 07:10:02 AM

Quote from: barrymatas on June 16, 2015, 07:00:32 AM

Yes its true . even I can't login using my UK based Ip. Had to use tor .

Seems it is indeed true.
I just read this on another thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=308793.msg11628622#msg11628622

Quote from: tonyq on June 16, 2015, 02:12:17 AM

The UK Gambling Commission has written to online sportsbooks, bookmakers and casinos telling them to block anyone with a UK IP address.
Already, Direct Bet and the Fairlay Bitcoin betting exchange have implemented this today.
It's outrageous.

It does seem they have locked out UK customers primarily for this reason.
I can't however find any news about this online.

It was a few months ago when I saw this information but a friend who is working on some investigative journalism about crypto betting and regulatory compliance discovered that Directbet had at least some servers hosted in a colo facility in the UK. This might not be the case any more but I expect that any licensed bookmakers in the UK would be extremely hostile towards an unregulated company providing a service to the UK gambling market. Perhaps the authorities in the UK have started to crack down on unregulated gambling sites.

The next few years are going to be very interesting for the crypto gambling industry. Directbet claim to be based in Costa Rica which has turned a blind eye to unregulated and unlicensed gambling for years but even Costa Rica is starting to turn the screw albeit very slowly.

I guess there will always be regulatory and tax havens but I expect that the sands will be shifting quite rapidly in the near future. After all, the online gambling industry in the UK alone is worth £6.2bn per year. The big players in the industry will want to protect their assets.

EDIT: I can understand outrage about the recent reminders to betting companies about UK law but regulation of gambling is there for a reason. Directbet have always been more than reasonable and professional when dealing with me despite being at times a very demanding customer but the bottom line is that they remain an unregulated, unaudited and unidentified entity. Even if Directbet might be trusted, many other services might not be trustable.