Olympic-first thoughts

[intheknow]

Chest,
the great thing about the checks from Nevis is that there isn't anyway to trace who issued the check. That gives you the creativity to claim that the checks are for anything. A repayment of a personal loan to a friend? Whatever you want. The Bank of Nevis will not release any info to anyone about their business dealings. If you have any other questions I'll be happy to help anyway I can.

[chestrockwells]

Mikren, have you ever tried to endorse a payout check to another book? I haven't asked them but will see what they say.

In the know, thanks for your offer. I understand that most Caribbean banks have a strict privacy policy. How that holds up to even the slightest pressure I'm not sure. But actually my suggestion of a potential area of concern wasn't Nevis but rather Bank of NY.

[reno]

Maximum Value, I've never had any problem receiving funds. When I receive, it is by check. And I either cash the checks or deposit them.

Chestrockwells is right. Anyone who does constant large cash Western Unions is a red flag who will probably eventually be contacted by the IRS. And when the IRS comes in for the audit, they can subpoena all of your financial records. At that point, you'd better have a good explanation as to how all of that money got into your accounts and why you didn't declare it. Even if you didn't make money, but sent a lot and received a lot, you may have a lot of explaining to do.

The government has already put a lot of pressure on Western Union, virtually eliminating quick collects for sportsbooks. It stands to reason that they are, or will be, scrutinizing individuals who continually do large-cash transactions.

[chestrockwells]

Reno is right as well. The problem is that the de facto burden of proof is on the individual. As a simple example....let's say you don't trust banks/stock market etc. etc. and you keep your savings in cash in a safety deposit box. Ok, pretty stupid, but not illegal in itself. However if they ever get into your box, the burden of proof is on YOU to prove that this cash was declared income at some point. I won't even comment about them finding a foreign bank account of yours...which as I'm sure most of you know, you are under a legal obligation to tell them about when you file your 1040. All this is just my non-expert opinion of course.
As for Western Union, I don't believe its against any policy to have other people send money for you, is it?

[Rawhide]

Chestrockwells is right. Just send multiple Western Unions using different names
for $999 and below.

[mikren]

As long as your payout check is a cashier's check, you should have no problem endorsing it over to another book. I have heard this is done commonly and there should be no problem. Some places will make you wait while the check clears, but most will credit you the amount immediately. Just about every book uses cashier's checks as far as I know, except for William Hill.

[ShiftySheik]

Most of the books I use will not accept a 3rd party cashier's check. They only take a cashier's check that is payable to the book. I'll start another thread and see if any books respond.