Posted on 10/02/2012 6:15:23 AM PDT by George from New England
I suspect he prefers Mexico over Vegas in the mistaken belief he can avoid the IRS.
He can dodge them for a few years, but unless he denounces his USA citizenship, he still owes US income taxes he earns anywhere in the world. It sucks, but is the law.
Tell him to hit the casinos in Mississippi, a lot closer to home, and most there speak english.
Except for that whole bit about Honduras having the world's highest murder rate, 4x that of Mexico.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17940440
I feel you pain. Personally. I have a son in the exact same circumstance. Only Mexico isn’t on his list. I agree with the other poster who mentioned Costa Rica. There is apparently a whole community of American online poker players there. In fact, I read they are welcomed.
For those mentioning Canada, I have heard nothing but horror stories about trying to get in there. They actually have laws and crap that they ENFORCE, unlike us! I don’t think you just go to the border and announce you want to come in. Please expand on how you got in??
Get another job? Yeah. Tried that lately? Even “beginner” jobs in many fields are paying minimum wage (with college degrees!) and those are extremely difficult to get! It’s a miracle to even get an interview.
If you can’t convince him not to go make sure that he studies the culture and what to avoid and what areas to avoid.
Part of the problem is that what is left of the police are fighting the drug cartels and the other criminals are getting away with anything.
You say he’s in Florida and I don’t know anything about this but is there any way he can get some kind of satellite connection from the Bahamas or somewhere out there so his internet doesn’t originate in the US?
¿Habla Español ?
The town, I believe, is Rosarito.
Sometimes people have to learn things the hard way.
Pray for his safety.
Never shelter anyone from the realities of their decisions.
Sounds like you support the idea that his addiction is 'his field".
Ensenada is not far from Rosarito Beach.
Getting money to Mexico is very very easy. Getting money out is a royal pain. Worse, he risks that same bank ruining his reputation on the online sites as wire transfers are lost, delayed, or rescinded if he fails to pay off the right people.
He doesn’t have to bank in Mexico if he lives there, of course - there’s other offshore banking options, but as another poster pointed out, his foreign earnings will be taxed at US rates and have extremely stringent reporting requirements. I’m not completely sure, but I recall reading on one of the poker forums that the IRS does not permit deducting foreign gambling losses on tax forms, only wins are recorded, so it can turn very bad very quickly.
http://www.cardschat.com/legal-poker-sites.php
I am sure there are other alternatives out there if you just look.
When I find sites on Google then I google something like “such and such site is a rip-off”, or it sucks and see what you get.
Google pictures if the decapitated bodies from the Mexican drug wars and show them to him.
” . . . 25 year old . . .”
The clay hardened long ago.
Bingo, and make sure it covers foreign countries, too. Most of us were that age of “invincibility”. But moving just south of the border is quite insane in these times. He may need to visit gamblers anonymous.
He is 25 - an adult. You can tell him your wishes. You can tell him that it will cause you to worry. You can tell him about the violence. You can only inform him.
But he is an adult - stop helicoptering and let him make decisions and deal with the consequences of those decisions.
The Republicans controlled both the House and Senate in 2006.
As a result of the November, 2006 mid-term elections, the democrats won control of both the House and Senate, and the new democrat-controlled House and Senate were seated in January, 2007.
I agree with the other posters who suggested The Bahamas, a Caribbean island, or Costa Rica as an alternative to Mexico.
Have him watch “Borderland” on Netflix.
I second that. And while I have no experience with the town/city mentioned, I'll add I've been in & out of Mexico with little problem. So don't listen to all the gnashing of teeth about all of Mexico being an unsafe place.
Every country has places to avoid, just learn where they are.
They decided to go to Mexico to see relatives. Said it was safe because they were south of all the drug activities. They were driving a relative's car when a large dump truck pushed them off the road and their car hit a brick fence and a couple of trees.
Mom had a broken leg and broken arms. Gina's sister had broken ribs, punctured lung, broken arms and other internal injuries as a result of the accident.
They were taken to a local doc-in-the-box and patched up as well as the facility would allow. Family members came and paid the bill and were trying to get them back to the US for surgery which both of them needed.
The clinic would not release them unless they paid an additional $6,000. Their bill had been settled in full, but they would not let them leave without the "ransom" money. Family members called the local police who showed up and locked them in one of the clinic rooms and told the family members they would now have to come up with $18,000 to allow these ladies to leave. Family and extended family could only come up with about $5,000 after several days. Gina's sister was getting worse by the hour and they were afraid she would die so the kidnappers released they for the $5,000 if they would sign a release absolving the clinic and police of any wrong doing.
The family members had to drive them to the border where ambulances were waiting to fly them to Houston for medical care. This has been a couple of years ago and neither woman has fully recovered from the ordeal. These ladies were Mexican citizens living in the US. What do you think would have happened to them had they been American citizens?
Avoid Mexico at all costs!!!
Slightly incorrect. There is no Federal law banning Americans from playing online poker. What Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (or UIGEA) did was make it illegal for banks and other financial institutions to tranfer money to and from online gambling sites. Actually the case against 2 of the 3 sites has pretty much fallen apart. Full Tilt is still in trouble, but for stealing their customers’ money from their supposedly segregated accounts. Much like John Corzine and MF Global.
His problem is not Mexico, it is gambling.
In this case, I highly recommend you contact Gamblers Anonymous, identify yourself as his father, give them the whole story, and ask for their advice on what to do.
http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/
My guess is that they will suggest you bring him to a GA meeting, and in that he probably won’t want to go, you will have to be gently crafty about it.
If he is adamant about not meeting them, invite some GA people to your home to “get them into his space”, even if they are there to “just talk with you.”
There’s some psychology here. People dislike others talking about them “behind their back”, about a problem they have, even if they are in denial about it. But because the GA people are “talking to you”, he cannot order them away. It also shows that you know he has a problem, which also tends to bring the issue to the fore.
And there’s a simple solution for him. If he talks with them and goes to meetings, then you will no longer invite them into “his space”.
That was my first thought exactly. Sounds like the only real value he received growing up is that making money justifies just about anything.
Even if he doesn't go to Mexico, the odds are that at some point he will lose his house and wind up back in Mom and Dad's basement.
At the age of 25 the kid is an adult and has to personally accept the consequences of his actions. Protecting him from those consequences only prolongs the agony of all involved. And it keeps the kid from growing up.
If you lose money it’s an addiction. If you win it’s a profession. ;~)
Tombstone:
Wyatt: Didn’t you always say gambling’s an honest trade?
Doc: I said poker’s an honest trade. Only suckers buck the tiger. The odds are all with the house.
Your attitude is correct.
Wild horses couldn’t drag me to Mexico.
Don’t believe everything you read. The crime is in small pockets and largely internecine. Stay away from the drug culture (mostly around San Pedro Sula — a thoroughfare), and you’e fine. I know; I live there six months a year.
Tell him to do a search on ‘nick berg beheading’. Much like your son, Berg thought he could travel all around Iraq and he literally lost his head for his foolish beliefs.
If your son travels around Mexico and gets in a ‘wrong place/wrong time’ scenario...well, the drug cartels also somtimes dismember their victims to either send a message to their rivals and the locals or to prevent identificaion of the remains.
There is a steady stream of Mexicans sneeking into the US for a better life and your son thinks that his better life is in Mexico, playing poker.
Makes sense to me.
I suspect the same is also true of Mexico, but which people have no trouble bashing as an entity. Mexico is a much larger country and therefore no doubt easier to maintain a distance from the “bad” areas.
Why didn’t they take out travel insurance before they left? Good grief.
Maybe there is a way to get past Holder’s wall, I wonder if it uses the VPN, if so, maybe he can try a VPN anonymizer. I’m just brainstorming so I’m not sure if this will work or not but I wanted to put this out there.
I have been to RB quite a bit over the past thirty years untill 10 years ago.
Lots of friends leased/owned property there and it was a wonderful, unspoiled place, one traffic light in the center of town back in the good old days.
My first friend to die was putting up a dish on his home when he was stabbed in the back 17 years ago.
I have not been there in almost 10 years but there were half built high rises everywhere on the beach and construction left a lot to be desired. I would not want to be in one when EQ’s hit.
But the worse part was the attitude Mexicans had towards us. It had changed and they were not as friendly or helpful.
It may seem small or just my experiance but theres much more there just under the surface ready to break free.
That was 10 years ago. I would not go anywhere near there now.
“Maybe there is a way to get past Holder’s wall,”
It’s become more about the banking. Most online sites no longer will have or work with anyone with a U.S. postal address. Holder sues at will.
Has he ever heard of “Las Vegas”?
Second, online poker to begin with? Look up "full tilt rigged" on google. If he is trying to make a living gambling, he should at least see how he can get screwed.
Third, like others there are better places to do online gambling than Mexico.
He's an adult so give him the information. If he is as intelligent as he thinks he is, picking another place shouldn't be difficult.
Fourth, per Mexico, I was one of the early on people who stopped going to Baja/Mexico, probably around 92. The feel just turned sketchy for me. Most friends didn't really get a clue what I was talking about until mid 2000s.
Rosarito is located around some decent surf spots. If almost every surfer I know has stopped going down there, shouldn't that be a big enough clue for him?
Probably about three years ago, I was talking with some friends. We were interrupted by one of the guy's employees.
The employee had just gotten back from Baja. He and three other guys were going on a surf trip to a spot just south of Rosarito. They were forced off the road by van and a cop car. At gun point they were forced on to the pavement.
Before when something like this would happen, you gave the banditos some valuables and cash and eventually be on your way.
This time all four guys were pretty much of the perspective they weren't going to live. The robbers were deciding on what to do with them and where to dump there bodies. Don't remember the complete story but something caused the robbers to get distracted. The four surfers were able to knock down the two guys guarding them and escape. (Cutting a long story short.)
Both the local police and Federales were involved on this hijacking. The fact the Federales were involved in a low level hijacking surprised these guys (and us).
A few years before another friend was hijacked just above San Quintin. That was pretty much a place where the Mexicans left the gringos alone.
Here are some links for your son to check out:
http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20081101/news_1n1police.html
http://bajasafari.blogspot.com/2008/05/baja-racer-kidnapped-in-ensenada-held.html
http://bajarealestateblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/tijuanas-new-police-chief-alberto.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/08/12/us-mexico-usa-kidnap-idUSN1250256620080812
Couldn't find the articles quickly but there should be a couple of articles talking about how the drug cartels shot up and killed an entire police department (around the Rosarito area I believe). He should also google drug cartels going on full assault against the Mexican military, police, local officials and justice people in Tijuana.
If he is as intelligent as he thinks, there are better places to gamble.
George, it’s called gamboling addiction.
I’m with you. I heard there are party boats that you can take out of Key West that will go far enough offshore where gambling is legal. I’ve been to Mexico several times (many years ago) but you wouldn’t get me down there now for a trillion dollars. (Besides, there are enough Mexicans now this side of the border ... why bother?)
Mexico is well represented in the “top 50”
http://www.businessinsider.com/most-dangerous-cities-in-the-world-2012-10?op=1
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