Offshore bank account...

[CWilly]

I should have stated in the initial post that i'm a student and therefore, poker winnings is my only income. Lloyds need one of the following documents:

* Recent six months consecutive active bank statements - original or certified copies
* Latest three months formal payslips - original or certified copies
* An original letter addressed to Lloyds TSB from your employer on formal company headed paper confirming your earnings.

My cash has been floating around in cyberspace so the bank statements is out of the question and obviously the other 2 arent viable as a poker player.

A neteller ATM card could be an option, although i'm not sure how much i trust it(reliabilty rather than security).I would also idealy like an interest earning dedicated poker bank account that i could seperate from my other money.

[Ryan11]

the Neteller ATM converts it to your countries currency. Atleast that's how it works for me in Canada. I have a USD Neteller Acct but when i put money on the ATM card it converts it to CAD on their site. I've talked with them and they said there is no way around it.

[Hosayif]

I dont know where i heard this, but i heard that they dont tax gambling winnings in the UK.

Your correct,there is no tax payable on any gambling winnings for UK citizens.

[AaronBrown]

In this circumstance, I don't recommend trying to get an offshore account. The problem is that the income verification regulations are designed to stop money laundering. While your income comes from poker winnings rather than drug trafficking, extortion or supplying explosives to terrorists; from the government's point of view, any undocumentable income is suspect. My guess is any documentation you supply will look suspicious, and will get you investigated. Although the investigation will not turn up anything illegal, the penalties for the bank (and for government employees as well) for being wrong are so large, that you'll probably be turned down anyway.

The offshore banking havens were designed for people like you (only richer ones). The idea is you just set up the account and don't tell the UK regulators. That's usually illegal, or at least dubious, but some people don't care. The idea of an offshore account through a UK-regulated institution seems contradictory.