Betfair now working fine on Antik with Google DNS, but not with Antik DNS server, so it looks like an ISP has actually scaled down its blocking to the minimum level. Pokerstars.eu still unblocked even at the DNS level.

Betfair shows the following message
"Unfortunately, due to regulatory compliance requirements we cannot allow card deposits from your country. Please proceed with depositing using another payment method."

Possible methods under the alternatives tab are Skrill, Neteller, Bank transfer and paysafe card.

Williamhill, Betfair all gone (IP blocked) from Antik and Orange at home again - now joined by my own site, Unibet. Everything working on Swan for now so I can get in a few games in the office.

Pokerstars still working though so it looks like I'll be back to opening coffins at the weekends.

FML.

Or you can learn from Russians' experience and start using AdvOR or a VPN (if the server gets blocked too) or Frigate, Zenmate, Tor to access websites.

Here's what the situation is looking like in Russia.

Stars, 888, Party use adaptive CDNs so their login screens and servers work almost always - if an ISP bans a webpage or a server, the CDN redirects to a new 'mirror' site/server that hasn't been banned yet. Redstar (an MPN skin) used the same technique, but I'm not up-to-date and not sure if it's still working. Pokerdom used to have (or still has) a browser extension called GameReach that redirects to unbanned mirrors.

If you nevertheless have a problem with logging into Stars, send an email to their support, and they'll explain what lines you should insert manually into user.ini to set up access to an alternate server.

As said above, Stars.eu almost always has an unbanned mirror site for the poker and one for the casino; if you can log into the client, then you can find out what the current mirror site is by clicking on pretty any hyperlink in a poker / casino ad banner in the News section of the client.

For Stars.es, a VPN is said to be necessary to access the cashier but not for actual play.

Party's autoupdate sometimes gets stuck in an infinite loop without visible motion, but if you terminate smartupdater.exe in Task Manager and restart Party, it should work the 2nd time around. Sometimes there are login problems, which are usually solved by restarting the client like 10 times until it repairs its config. There's also a trick with replacing some config file, but I don't remember what exactly to do, ask LikeAA what to do if you keep having login problems.

Those iPoker skins that are yet serving the country are accessible via VPN, as well as Unibеt (where the VPN is necessary for the login screen but can be turned off after logging in, iirc).

In Slovakia, tricks with adding certain IP addresses to the hosts file in Windows may still be working if your ISPs aren't yet as proficient as the Russian ones.

Financial transaction blocking has a much worse impact, though

Pokerstars have pulled out as of yesterday.

Unibet seem not to be blocked on Antik - at least at IP level anymore. Betfair still blocked at IP level on Antik. Both the above are working at IP level on Swan.

just recieved email from Pokerstars that all offer is available to players in Slovakia again

Great news, did not expect this at all.

So is this correct then? The couple of times I logged on it threw an error when I tried to sit at a table - also didn't get an email.

Hello,

Long time reader but made an account to opt-in.

According to what I have read online, Pokerstars does not hold a license in Slovakia but they are still welcoming players from there. Therefore it looks like they are operating illegally.

If somebody speaks slovak/czech, more info are in this article (although I could not find anything more recent)

https://www.pokerarena.cz/rubriky/ak...html#vyjadreni

It would be interesting to see how they justify that to the UK gambling commission, which requires them to be able to explain their legal basis for operating in any place. I suspect they consider their Malta licence to be valid across the whole EU, which may be true but it's a hard argument given the UK GC would not have considered it enough to operate in the UK (pre-Brexit or in the current transition period).

Yes. No one knows what exactly happened. They just sent out the e-mail one day saying "Hey, you can play" without there being any change in the legislation whatsoever.

So, from what we know, it really does seem like Stars saw the corona quarantine as an opportunity they just could not pass up on and went "screw it, we are going back on the market"

Recent info:
https://www.pokerarena.cz/rubriky/po...ars_17292.html

Translation:
Order from Slovakia court, that ISPs have to block Pokerstars website
Won´t affect the client, Slovakians can still play.
But they could get in trouble to get the money in the end (blocking payment processors is going to come sooner or later)
Advice: Don´t leave huge funds there.

I have no idea how blocking a payment processor works so this might be a stupid question but if they do it, does it mean I won't be able to cash out to accounts set up in Slovak banks or can they somehow block cashing out to Skrill as well for example?

They can threaten things which will make Skrill say „no more gambling transactions from that country“.

The same may not be true for other wallets with a higher risk appetite.

Hello again,

I got curious tonight after seeing on the Daniel Negreanu live stream where somebody at the table was playing under the French flag, so I went on the client and found one person playing one of the WSOP event under the Slovakian flag.

So I am interested if GG is using the same tecnique as star of going for some short term profit or the person is playing from abroad and the flag reflects the nationality of the player.

On GG, the 100% flag is taken at the current location (ip).

I am also interested in the question of how legal it is to play as a resident of Slovakia, because I plan to move to this wonderful country.

I also saw several regs and fishs with flags of Slovakia and Slovenia on PS, but none of them responded to the offer to communicate in the chat... ((