Bitcoin gambling site SatoshiBet has announced that it would stop offering its service to US customers.
The company issued its statement on Reddit, citing the uncertain landscape of online gambling regulation in the US and potential legal problems in the future as the reasons behind the restriction.
“After deliberate guidance on the matter by our legal counsel, blocking US players was deemed the best way to mitigate any legal liability for SatoshiBet and its shareholders moving forward,” the company said.
SatoshiBet’s decision to withhold its service in the US follows a similar path taken by numerous online gambling companies that have stopped offering its platform to US customers because of the country’s murky laws on online gambling. Offering online gambling using bitcoin further complicated SatoshiBet’s tenure in the US, especially with increased attention by different governments on companies that offer online gambling using bitcoin as the means of transaction. Last month, the Spanish government responded to queries on whether online bets conducted with bitcoin should be considered binding from a legal standpoint by stating that these business operators should obtain licenses before they can offer their services to the public.
In the meantime, founder Adrian Scholz told CoinDesk that any US customer who still had funds on the site at time of its closure are being instructed to contact the company for instructions on how to withdraw their funds.
Scholz also clarified that SatoshiBet isn’t permanently leaving the US market but it will stay away from it for as long as laws on online gambling with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin aren’t properly addressed.
“We of course hope that at some point in time sufficient clarity is established by lawmakers, that perhaps allows us to re-enter the market,” Scholz said.
