WTO Rules in Favor of Antigua, Barbuda and Against U.S.
The World Trade Organization last week ruled in favor of Antigua and Barbuda in a three-year-old case that country filed against the U.S. for free trade violations -- raising the hope that the controversy over online gambling restrictions in America will end soon.
The ruling has not been made public yet, but a spokesperson for the U.S. Trade Representative's office confirmed that the decision was against the U.S.
Antigua is home to 44 online gambling licenses. Seventeen of those are regulated gambling firms. But they have slim hope of a U.S. revival.
Three years ago, Antigua complained that the U.S. government’s ban on "offshore online casinos" and "online sports books" violates the General Agreement on Trades in Services (GATS) treaty, as that treaty allows the activities within its borders.
As both countries are signatories to GATS, the U.S., if it follows the by ruling, should either open its market to online gambling firms based in Antigua, or shut down the firms running the same kind of operations in the U.S.
Action or Inaction?
There’s a chance the U.S. can use the WTO ruling's bureaucratic language as an excuse for inaction. The ruling is expected to be made public during the next few weeks.Last fall, the Antiguan government amended its complaint to include the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, and the law prohibits financial institutions from transacting funds generated by offshore online gambling.
Experts said the WTO decision will reflect that amendment.
The U.S. has changed its defense over the years, at first claiming that GATS did not include online gambling.
The latest U.S. ploy is a “moral” defense through which it claims online gambling, unlike all the other forms of gambling available in the U.S., does not have adequate protection against minors.
But, experts said, the Antiguan government and its online gambling industry have come up with techniques to screen out minors armed with their parents’ credit cards.
A small cabal of right-wing politicians forced the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 through as an attachment to a popular port security bill.
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