BluffTHIS!
05-06-2007, 03:09 AM
A couple British poker players like Richas have participated in the legislation forum over time, and I am addressing this post to any such 2+2'ers. As Richas pointed out in previous postings, what happens over here often tends to have an effect on the other side of the pond. In particular, the recent US stance on the WTO issue with Antigua would seem to me to threaten other countries taking a like approach and seeking to withdraw any and all committments they have made in the GATT processes arbitrated by the WTO, with the result of global protectionism regarding online gambling.
In Jay's thread US Admits Defeat in Antigua Gambling Case at the WTO (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=10240015&page=0&fpart=1& vc=1) there is this post (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=10256620&page=0&vc=1 ) by a poster with the following quote:
"What I think works on our side is in order to withdraw a sector we have to compensate ALL trading partners in regards to the sector. Any other country that did not exempt gambling(we had a chance to but did not) could step up and say, give us a trade concession. The 'clarify' approach will not hold a bucket of water if they say its an oversight clerically or whatnot. "
Now this doesn't just have to mean Antigua. Surely it could also mean the UK as Party, Stars, Neteller, etc. are listed on the London exchange, and/or have their coroporate offices in the UK, a crown dependency or an overseas dependency. *If* the UK were to join a demand of Antigua for compensation, that would increase the potential liability of the US by several orders of magnitude. So if some of you want to help our efforts over here, and take the long term view of seeking to forestall actions by one country that could lead to greater restrictions in all countries, then I would like to suggest that you start some threads like Engineer has done here with action plans for contacting your MPs and letting your views be known that the UK gov't should vigorously protect its online gaming segment that has grown so much in recent years and depends greatly on foreign customers.
I realize from previous discussions that the Blair gov't isn't necessarily receptive to such backing of the online gaming industry, and that the Labour Party apparently has a puritan wing which is very unrecenptive to gambling. Nonetheless, just as with us, it doesn't take much time to make a few calls and send a couple letters and emails.
So what do you Englishmen, Scotsmen, Welshmen and Northern Irishmen think about this?
In Jay's thread US Admits Defeat in Antigua Gambling Case at the WTO (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=10240015&page=0&fpart=1& vc=1) there is this post (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=10256620&page=0&vc=1 ) by a poster with the following quote:
"What I think works on our side is in order to withdraw a sector we have to compensate ALL trading partners in regards to the sector. Any other country that did not exempt gambling(we had a chance to but did not) could step up and say, give us a trade concession. The 'clarify' approach will not hold a bucket of water if they say its an oversight clerically or whatnot. "
Now this doesn't just have to mean Antigua. Surely it could also mean the UK as Party, Stars, Neteller, etc. are listed on the London exchange, and/or have their coroporate offices in the UK, a crown dependency or an overseas dependency. *If* the UK were to join a demand of Antigua for compensation, that would increase the potential liability of the US by several orders of magnitude. So if some of you want to help our efforts over here, and take the long term view of seeking to forestall actions by one country that could lead to greater restrictions in all countries, then I would like to suggest that you start some threads like Engineer has done here with action plans for contacting your MPs and letting your views be known that the UK gov't should vigorously protect its online gaming segment that has grown so much in recent years and depends greatly on foreign customers.
I realize from previous discussions that the Blair gov't isn't necessarily receptive to such backing of the online gaming industry, and that the Labour Party apparently has a puritan wing which is very unrecenptive to gambling. Nonetheless, just as with us, it doesn't take much time to make a few calls and send a couple letters and emails.
So what do you Englishmen, Scotsmen, Welshmen and Northern Irishmen think about this?