The issue with many EU banks is that they only have one US correspondent bank and are scared shitless to take any risk regarding USD. You are probably not profitable enough for the bank to tolerate your high riskiness so I don't think you can hold the relationship with the bank long term. The best would be to try to stay under the radar with lower amounts and use some
EMI-s as intermediaries and don't deposit directly to gambling sites.
This makes a lot of sense - EU banks with a single USD correspondent bank, profitable but not profitable enough to risk that correspondent relationship. I'm expecting to pay some risk-adjusted fees for this. One bank in the US would offer me an account, MVB Bank. There minimum monthly fee was $20k which I can't justify (yet).
Also, to clarify, although I gamble in my own name, I can't gamble online in the US. However I do invest in professional gamblers in the US, and this is where the USD/SWIFT requirement comes from.
@royalflush - is there any particular reason why you are not setting up a company?
Without going into the specifics, there are tax advantages. The UK doesn't tax gambling winnings. If I set up a company and booked the profits to the company I would have to pay tax. One avenue I have not investigated yet is setting up a company to process payments on my behalf.
If I run out of options I may have to look at taxable structures. It would make a big dent in profitability, but I'd rather earn less than none...
Because gambling is still illegal on a federal level in the US, it's very hard to find and hold USD for anything related to gambling. It's not just about finding a bank that is happy with you (plenty would be), the currency is the problem. The local banks in the US can be very aggressive and banks risk losing their access to USD if there's any US-related gambling.
What you could do is receive USD into a custody/trustee account, and convert to GBP or other currencies as and when needed, or transfer to non-gambling related USD accounts. You will still run into source of funds problems with your banks since you're earning money through a high-risk but at least you won't irritate the bank by having gambling-related USD flowing through them. The account wouldn't be in your name, though, so you'd have to check if the gambling sites are OK with that.
Other options might be SEB in Luxembourg,
Bank Frick in Liechtenstein or CFM Indosuez and CMB in
Monaco. You'll need to park at least a million in some
investment product to appease them. They are somewhat open wealth of gambling origin provided the gambling activities are licensed, but USD may be a deal-breaker.
Thanks for the insight on USD restrictions. I have some knowledge of wire act/uigea/paspa/state-level regulation (and I only invest in gamblers in regulated states - playing at regulated operators). I should be able to demonstrate to a bank there is no risk of my account breaking any laws/compliance violations. I _think_ I need to find a bank small enough to take the time to understand my business model and the risks involved, and with experience in gambling so I'm not starting at square one.
Re: custody/trustee - I've attempted the trustee route - US banks said no. There may still be opportunities there that I have not fully exhausted. There are considerations when deciding on trust structure which affect the tax benefits.
Re: gambling in my name - this isn't a big issue to be honest, most of my USD needs are for investing in other gamblers.
Re: suggest banks, thanks for the suggestions, I have already reached out to Frick and will give the others a go.
cmb start from 5 m now days and is very pain in a*s for incoming , mnot rally a good choice
This is useful too, I'll scratch cmb off the list. Saved me some time.
How much of your turnover is profit? At this level, you could probably sit down and discuss with some private banking institutions and put this on the table as they are. Not necessarily Coutts, but there are plenty of private banking in London. But that implies that your profit is close to the turnover mentioned, or that you have a couple of £mil at hand to put in the account at opening.
For every $100k out, I get roughly $150k in. I am gambling so the amounts and variance are irregular.
I do roughly 200 transactions out, 100 in per month. Majority with US individuals. Transaction size ranges from $1k to $50k.
I have spoken with a few banks that are happy with the source of wealth and are happy for me to park some assets with them. They can't support the day-to-day turnover.
If approaching private banks, do I need an introducer or can I "walk in the front door"? Having already spoken to some private banks who said yes to assets/no to turnover I expect most private banks will not entertain both.
Unfortunately a lot of my profits are, shall we say "establishment-specific", and sometimes I'm beating the house, so I don't tend to have long relationships with all of them. I could potentially offer to play there "recreationally" but that might cost more than $20k month which is my current "cheapest option".
