In the last few years the world of online gaming has been absolutely turned upside down in offshore locations such as Costa Rica. This in part is due to the constant pressure put on by the United States government both locally & abroad.
A short decade ago Costa Rica was home to well over 300 thriving offshore sportsbooks. The offshore gaming industry was absolutely booming and Costa Rica was the Mecca as expats flooded the country in search of opportunities to make a living working for these offshore sportsbooks.
That’s when the United States government raised their ugly head and did all they could to put a stranglehold on monies going offshore for gambling purposes.
In 2006 just before congress adjourned for the elections congress smuggled in a bill and attached it to the port security act. It was called (UIGEA) Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The bill was aimed at the heart of offshore gaming companies and disrupted banking relationships between merchants and sportsbooks operators.
The US levied heavy penalties and fines on any banks that continued to facilitate any online gaming operators with funds for gambling purposes from the United States. Ever since that moment the industry has been in a free fall and has never recovered. The Industry today is basically on life support with just a handful of offshore gaming companies remaining.
But what these actions also did was simply drive the business back underground to the local bookies who found their saving grace in pay per head companies that have simply taken the place of the offshore sportsbooks in Costa Rica.
The pay per head industry is on the rise and has US based bookies making more money than they have ever dreamed with less risk and much less work on their part. Everything that happens that pertains to online gaming now happens on servers or telephone lines located in Costa Rica within a legal jurisdiction and no longer in the back yards of US based local bookies!
So thanks to the US authorities bookies are richer than ever before simply by hooking up with these offshore pay per head services.
