[Skallagrim]

It will all depend on the price tag. The US is no position to totally withdraw from GATTS and the WTO. The current US administration will never back off its anti-gambling stance unless forced to by congress. Congress will only force the issue if the price tag is big enough to hurt. That will depend on the outcome of the pending hearings.

Small price tag, Bush Admin will pay it.

Big price tag, Bush Admin will want to pay, but Congress will act (money talks). Congress' action would have to be either a total ban on online gambling or a totally open to foreign competition but regulated market.

The out of the box solution would be for Congress to authorize (and maybe regulate) all online skill gaming (and include their pet projects like pari-mutual horse racing and fantasy sports as skill games - and hopefully poker) while banning all online games of chance (and define sportsbetting as a game of chance to placate the leagues). This isnt quite the Wexler bill, but the Wexler bill is a good place to start.

Skallagrim