http://www.gaminglaw.eu/news/taxatio...ker-in-europe/

Heres an article written by accountants on the different taxes for poker players in europe :P

Oh thank you very much
I will read it !
I hope that the laws are still the same since the release of this article (2010).

+1 really would appreciate info on this.

Athens, Greece

Experience: national, lived there for 14 yrs while younger, visit regularly.

Cost of Living - 6 Average to somewhat cheap.

Rent prices are falling due to the economic crisis, although I would avoid the cheapest accomodation in the center of the city in neighborhoods like Omonia. The nicer areas in Athens are generally considered to be the suburbs, a nice 2 bedroom apartment there will be approximately 400-600 euros per month while the southern beach side areas are slightly more expensive. Souvlaki, pastries and other fast food isn't too expensive and you can have a filling snack for 2 euros, but food at restaurants, and drinks and coffees will generally be consistent with western europe prices. The same goes for groceries.

Taxis are kind of cheap compared to Europe, and public transport tickets are 1.20 euros.

The internet ranges from mediocre to very good and average price.

Recreation - 8 Very good.

While the city is very big and can seem sparse, there is some nice beaches to go to in the summer, a wealth of historical and cultural attractions, good clubbing and in the summer you are only a few hours from the islands which are amazing. The cuisine is quite popular. The women are a little cocky but do react well to foreigners.


How Scary? - 7 Not too scary.

Athens used to be one of the safest cities in Europe, however there is somewhat increased crime due to the crisis. Still, locals are used to foreigners so it is unlikely for one to be singled out. Demonstrations in the centre very easy to avoid but can be intimidating to a foreigner. Athens, outside of the citycentre regardless, remains super safe in terms of violent crime.

Poker Playing - 3 Some live poker options.

There is a casino in Loutraki which is public. Rake relatively high, but extremely soft games. Outside of state owned casinos poker is illegal, however there are a lot of underground games which can be found in so called 'sports clubs'. There is a very slight chance of them being raided by police so don't travel with more cash than you need to these games. In general I think with some effort you can find great underground live poker games even as a foreigner but it will take some effort.

Internet gambling is technically taxed now but poker is a grey area with regards to this law and I don't foresee this being enforced any time soon.

How Easy to Get There and Stay There? 8 Easy and easy.

Pretty easy for all EU and shouldn't be too tough for non EU westerners either. Greece is still a somewhat popular tourist destination with a lax policy. Extending VISAs isn't too tough from what I hear either, and honestly there is little regulation in terms of throwing people out.

2 quite different countries despite the similar name :P


Maribor, Slovenia, will also comment on Ljubljana the capital

Experience: studied abroad there for one year

Cost of Living - 7 Pretty cheap.

Rent prices in Maribor are super cheap for a developed EU country, and in Ljubljana the capital are only slightly more expensive. More modern 2 bedroom flats will range from 400-600 euros to 500-700 in Ljubljana, but there are cheaper options, generally the more you veer from the city centre and the less modern the building, the cheaper.

Food is very cheap in Maribor and you can have a very nice meal for 20 euros each. Ljubljana again, slightly more expensive but still cheap. Drinks are cheap too. The internet isn't too expensive and ranges from slow to decent. Digital goods are expensive.

Recreation - 6 Good.

There isn't that much going on in Maribor compared to European capitals but there is some nice, cheap bars and cultural events happening, it was the 2012 european capital of culture. There are also strip clubs in both cities and the services are very cheap compared to the rest of Europe.

The local young people are very keen to meet people from abroad given that it is not as 'common' to visit as it is other countries.

Ljubljana is more eventful nightlife wise and there's a lot of cool alternative bars, people also tend to speak more English in Ljubljana than Maribor.

Slovenia's greatest strength IMO is its location, being within reach of so many other countries, from Italy, to Hungary, to Serbia and Austria, it can be a great cheap 'base' for the poker player that wants to travel cheaply throughout Europe.


How Scary? - 9 Not scary at all.

I'm sure there must be some crime but really I felt in no danger what so ever walking around at night in either city.

Poker Playing - 2 No real regulation online, few live options.

I couldn't really find any live games in Maribor as a foreigner. I hear there is some poker going on in Nova Gorica but couldn't find any more details.

How Easy to Get There and Stay There? 7 Easy and also easy.

The country has quite a few unregulated borders (I got there by train many times from Austria and my passport was never checked), but you are required to have a residence permit to stay for more than 1 month. If you do not you can get fined by the police even as an EU resident which is ridiculous. Also some of the officials at the permit thing didn't speak English which was weird.

How much does an average flat 1 - 2 km away from nightlife cost in Malta?
What's the weather like there from January to March?

Well per person in a pretty gud 3 bed flat ur looking at 300 euros, u can get a solid one for a little less even- check out franksalt or dhalia real estate agents

Weather will be nothing special jan-march but still far better than most of europe, not good enough weather for beach but hardly ever rains here and temperature is never freezing

Its a great place for grinders in europe imo, its really gud during summer as well- way more parties plus excellent weather

According to some slovenian websites, Nova Gorica has the largest poker room in Europe (Casino Perla). I've been there and there sure was a lot of action (due to all the Italians coming to play there).

The bad part is that there's not really much happening in Nova Gorica and it takes more than an hour to get there with car from Ljubljana.

What is the best country to retire? My parents are a 55 years old couple from Montreal and I told them that if they go to a country like Thailand (i'm here at the moment) they don't have to wait until they are 65 to retired (pension). They have a 25k usd a year budget.

What are the top cities in Thailand or other country for retired couple? They like quiet place, beach (they dream of Bora Bora, lol)) and 100 sq2 condo would do the job. They are not difficult with foods but they like to eat healthy food. My father has had Parkinson disease for 15 years (very early) but it has not progress very fast so far, so need a country with very good health care.

That's about it, Thailand probably have some nice location fiting those criteria but every options would be good to hear.

Thx!

I've been skipping through this thread noting places (especially Malta -- one of my fav places to visit) and I don't see one thing noted:

As a US player trying to play online even from another country (Including UK, Germany, Poland, France, Sweden) I was blocked by EVERY single poker site that isn't normally available in the US b/c my credit cards/bank accounts were all issued by US Banks. I would say it's really important to make sure you can get a local credit card or bank account easily (London used to be quite difficult for this but is now a bit more sane) so you can use your non-US address and non-US funds for playing internet poker -- otherwise you may find that you've traveled to play some poker and can't even get a deposit done. And the US sites were leary about me being in another country when logging in... Just like most financial things, if you plan to travel, tell your bank and do whatever they have in place for using your funds outside of the US. It may be worth giving a heads up to at least one of your reg poker sites but I'm not sure on that one.

Just a thought. Also -- if you are a "known US player" they make you wait and prove that you are no longer a primary US resident on some sites. Offhand I can't remember exactly which ones but it's worth it to check all that stuff out. I know I was in London when FTP opened the accounts for ROW and I tried to log in and grab my cash but whilst I sat being rebuffed, my British poker buddy pulled his cash out sitting on the same couch.

Newish Topic: Anyone interested in doing Flat Shares in any of these places where a group could go in on a decent internet connection etc then use it like a time-share with flatmates from time to time? If this part of my message belongs elsewhere, please feel free to moderate it in half or move it -- Thanks - Ella

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/92...-house-676091/

I'd say maybe post your idea in there or start a new thread...poker timeshares could possibly gain interest.

also +1 on banking info.

I'd assume mexico, thai, malta, costa, canada, etc....all easy as many US players living there. Colombia afaik you cannot easily open a bank account. I hear ecuador, peru, and uruguay it is an easy process, but won't know until I try.

Anybody able to share South American specific countries for ease of opening an account would be appreciated, but really that can be an important factor for a "Best Countries to Expat to" thread

If you cant get money on a site, get to the hsnl xfer thread and trade your USA bank acct monies for stars/mb/whatever. Plenty of people living in places with sketchy banks cash in and out with only this.

Could anyone do Fiji?


Third

Re: Macau.

Can you recommend an apartment that's available to rent for short term rent i.e. 1 - 2 months?

I didn't see anything for Prague. Somebody do that?

Finally

Country - CZ/Prague
Firsthand Experience? - 1 year

Cost of Living - 8 - Compared to other big western cities its really cheap. Rent is very affordable along with beer and sitdown meals. A typical Czech pub/restaurant will cost ~$10-15/person for a decent meal + 2 beers. Rent is up to you basically, its possible to rent a room for very cheap or get your own place for a more normal price. I pay about $1k/month for a very nice/top floor view of the city place close to the center. Also public transportation is very good and cheap all over the city.

Recreation - 7 - Winter really gets in the way but summer is perfect. Plenty to do in the city and lots of night clubs/pubs/etc. Lots of hot partying euro girls too.

How Scary - 9 - Safe as anywhere. As I understand it violent crime isn't really heard of in this country with the exception of the gypsies. Stay away from them and you will be fine (I rarely see them anyway). Czechs are famous for being non violent; you probably couldn't start a bar fight if you tried.

Poker Playing - 9 - Live poker everywhere and games play very deep. I've played at a few different locations and all had at least a 400bb max so games are pretty deep/good. Biggest I've seen is 50/100 Kc at the Hilton (~2/5$ but def plays much bigger, a 50/50 game I played was more like 5/10$ with the stacks/drunken action). I rarely play live so I only know of a few places. One bad thing is basically all the poker rooms are smoking so if you hate cigarettes like me then you might just want to stick to the internets. Online is no trouble obviously, I was up and running on stars in no time as soon as I got here from the US. Also super easy to open a bank account for poker, took me 30 minutes to set one up at a local Raiffeisen.

How Easy to Get There and Stay There? - 5 - Some red tape/bureaucracy to get a visa, but it wasn't too much trouble for me compared to others that I've read about. I do pay a lawyer here to help this process and its not too expensive, but def had to take lots of trips to government offices to get my residence permit.

Pros
-Cheap
-Hot girls everywhere
-Not too bad a bad language barrier within the city compared to most places east of Germany
-Poker is ez to access
-Good public transit

Cons
-No indoor smoking ban
-***** cold winter

I'm a dual-national (Irish and American). Thankfully, I get to avoid messing around with visas if I go under my Irish passport.

As for poker, what's the rake at the casinos? I don't mind smoking as I often smoke while gambling and/or drinking. So, that's not a huge problem for me.

Since nobody's done it yet, I think I'll do New York City

New York City, NY, USA

Experience: Born and raised in Brooklyn until I was a teenager. Moved to Queens after college graduation.

Cost of Living - 1 - Very expensive. To give you an idea, it costs $13 to cross the Verrazano Bridge.

Recreation/Nightlife - 8 - If you can afford it, NYC has it all. They've gone bat**** Nazi on vice taxes. $12 for a pack of smokes if you do. I was stunned to find a place near Times Square that sold beers for $4 (Jimmy's Corner). Cocktails are on their way up to $20 shortly. Like the rest of America, they do (or are supposed to) stop serving you drinks and even kick you out if they see that you're drunk.

As for typical recreation, you can find a healthy outlet for nearly everything you want.

How Scary - 2 - Stunning as it may seem, New York is one of the safest major cities in America. Crime has been going down since 1990. In 2012, there were 412 homicides which is the lowest number since 1963 (when reliable records were kept). You might have some petty crime, but violent crime is quite rare outside of the poorer neighborhoods in the boroughs. Now I wouldn't go about walking into dark alleyways or anything like that, but I don't have a death grip on my wallet while standing on the subway.

Poker Playing - 5 - I guess you can take a ride to AC for that if you like. NYC doesn't have much for high-stakes games that I know of unless they're run by criminals. As for online poker, same as it is in the rest of America.

Easy to Get/Stay There - ? - I lived there. So, I've never had to get a visa to enter my own country. Obviously it is quite easy to get to. NYC has 3 airports in its vicinity (JFK, LaGuardia, Newark), a major train station (Penn Station), a major bus terminal (Port Authority Bus Terminal), and a reliable highway system that has its typical jams at typical times.

-----------------------

Overall, NYC is a truly wonderful place to visit. It can be a great place to live provided you have a lot of money too. If you are just middle or even upper-middle, life just isn't particularly peachy. As a local of the city, I chose to travel to China in lieu of living there. I just prefer not having to pay more than $4/gallon for gas and paying double-digit tolls to cross old as dirt bridges.

Yeah nice to have an EU passport :P

The last time I played was the Prague Hilton and the rake was def higher than Vegas casinos, but I dont remember any specifics. I think I recall 15-20$ taken out of one pot that should have been big enough for max rake. Regardless the games are very profitable.

Hi all,
*
I'm going to live 4/6 months in Dublin on 26 February and I would like to know if grinder live / OnLine are already in place or are considering to go for a ride soon?
*
I live and player NL NL100/400 25/50 OnLine OnLine MTT € 10/50 and € 100/300 live.
*
I am delighted to be able to live with grinder during this period and to exchange, share, etc ...
*
The purpose of my trip; work (part-time). COM and of course the big advantages of the low rack casinos / clubs of Dublin, and of course UKIPK Liv Boeree
*
If you are interested, good advice or even having lived in a country that UK, I'm interested.
*
TY ALL

Ive lived in Texas since i was 3. im on my way learning Spanish so thats fun. i have British passport. i miss pokerstars and would like to dive back in. all these road trips to Louisiana and Oklahoma are not feasible. i have family in Canada and UK. please advise. cost of living is important. i am a solid low limit, FLHE multitabler that uses poker tracker. proximity to texas is important. there is also possibility of texas legalition . im thinking costa rica but my mind explodes with choices. thank you so much.

Anyone have info on Subotica, Serbia?

how easy is it to get a visa coming for the USA in the uk if your just going to be playing online poker. Looking to move there but want to be able to stay there longer then 6 months(prob 1-2 years). If you cant get one just for online is there any loop holes to be able to get one for having a part time job or going to school (1 or 2 classes at the most). Any help would be great. Thx

Hi,

I live in Malta at the moment and I consider going to Barcelona in autumn and stay there for 6 months at least.

Can anybody give me some info about Barcelona?

How is the drugs situation? Possible to get good quality coke?

Very good nightlife I guess? Live poker, too, I guess?

I know that living costs are huge but how is it compared to London (or Malta) for example.

And is there some poker community like in Malta or Gibraltar, hence is it easy to get new contacts?

Thanks a lot for any answer.

Rgds,
DSQ2

You can't get one, and no.