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Posted - 2013.12.18 02:10:00 -
[2] - Quote
JusFooling Around wrote:Sorry to break this to you, but all your efforts are quite unlikely to cause Blink not to be recognized as an honest game within a game which operates fairly within the constraints of the game mechanics and whims of the CCP decision makers and enjoys a reputation as high as any casino in any community.
You are missing the point. SOMER Blink is illegal in both, Europe and the United States of America.
Undoublty in my mind, their base-customers.
CCP is an enabler in this whole deal as they also make profit from every single PLEX people buy in order to play and so is Markee Dragon. Only difference is, Markee aka Marcus E. [last name removed for privacy] isnt hiding who he is and where he lives / operates.
Though for him - this **** below does apply and he should re-consider ever doing business with SOMER again.
Why is SOMER Blink illegal?
First, lets come to terms with a few definitions.
Online Currency
Eve Online and respectively SOMER Blink leverages ISK as the online / virtual currency as form of payment.
ISK has a real-world value and can directly be translated to a US Dollar Amount, Euro amount or any other hard-currency.
You can, under other forms of payment, pay with ISK in form of a PLEX for your account or the installment of a 30 day play-time.
ISK has such a value and can so closely be translated to a dollar amount that secondary and black markets exist.
One check on ebay or google for eve online items, eve online ISK, eve online PLEX or eve online accounts and you have a plethora of websites to chose from where you can obtain items, ISK, PLEX and characters for real-world money.
Why? Because ISK and items have a value for anyone playing. Eve Online.com sells 1 PLEX (600-620 Mio ISK) for 19.95 USD to start with. There should be no doubt that ISK directly translates to a specific dollar-amount value and as such, while still virtual, is a currency you can pay for with real money or spent significant amount of time in to obtain larger amounts.
It is also so big that CCP does actively invest time, money and efforts in enforcing their stance against RMT, why? Because it ultimately hurts their own business, as they no longer sell ISK or dominate / dictate the price for PLEX but the many bots and farmers out there involved in RMT. So anyone questioning the real value of ISK should take the above under consideration!
If RMT was "legal" (lol) you can bet your ass that the PLEX wouldnt be 19.95 but moreless something like 5 dollars and CCP wouldnt make this kind of cash anymore. The overall playing experience would go down too because every system would have bots farming around, so I am glad, CCP is kicking RMT. BUT...
Gambling
There shouldnt be doubt in any ones mind that SOMER Blink is operating a gambling site.
You require ISK to play, ISK has a hard-currency value.
Legality of an online gambling site
If SOMER was in the US - they would violate state and federal law. Its very clear. You cant even create a sweepstake for a freaking doughnut.
In the states, to even operate a BINGO site you require state and federal license. End of Story.
The same applies to Europe.
 Maybe that is one reason the person behind SOMERs website is hidden and not publically available?
Maybe that is one reason the server / site is registered in Panama? Your guess is as good as mine.
I do think though that SOMER beneficiaries (the ones gaining ISK or reseller dollar values) are US based and for that, they have a real risk and reason to hide.
What's more, so called "enablers" are also thredding in blackwater, because they themselves are violating those same rules and regulations governing gambling. CCP knows about SOMER, they endorse them, they promote them. They in turm promote illegal gambling. Why "illegal" you ask? Well, I for one live in the EU. SOMER definitely does not hold a license in the EU nor the US or any other country for that matter, and CCP advertised and promoted SOMER on CCP pages. CCP operates out of the European Union and as such, EU laws apply. For US customers, if they also saw the promotion messages, they violated US laws. It gets stupid, ues, but such is the nature of jurisdiction. Eve online itself is open to legal persons after the age of 13. Well guess what, gambling is not, in any not-3rd-world-country legal for people under at least 16.
In the EU, a site operator is NOT allowed to even allow access from IP addresses originating from countries that the operator does not have a gambling license in. Guess what, SOMER not having a license, should not be accessible from EU IP addresses, even if their server sits in Panama or is registered in Panama.
Just because SOMER uses an in-game virtual currency doesnt mean it is legal to operate a site offering gambling with that currency either. Why? Because it is established that virtual-currency, that has a real-currency value behind it, makes it illegal without a license.
Other Online Casinos (Poker, Bingo etc) operate the same way. You pay real-world currency for online chips or virtual currency with which you then gamble. No big difference here.
It all boils down to jurisdictions as well as there being a formal complaint.
An estimated 136,000 USD made off of the reselling of PLEX through Markee Dragon, or something along those lines.
Really? All taxes paid? Does SOMER really expect people to believe that they claimed this income as coming from a gambling site? LOLz
If all states of the United States and most countries in the EU govern ****BINGO (a 5 cent game) you can be rest assured that something like SOMER Blink, which is neither licensed nor controlled, is violating many rules, laws and regulations of many countries. |