Antigua targets US on online gaming

[Peter McDermott]

May 22, 2007, 2:38PM
Antigua Targets U.S. on Online Gaming

By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

GENEVA — The tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda sought to enlist other countries Tuesday in targeting the U.S. over Washington's failure to comply with a WTO ruling that its Internet gambling restrictions were illegal.

The tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda seeks compensation from the U.S. over its illegal restrictions on Internet gambling sites based overseas and on Tuesday asked other countries to join in as it targets Washington over its failure to comply with global trade rules.

Antigua, the smallest country to successfully litigate a case in the World Trade Organization's 12-year-history, also threatened to target American trademarks, copyrights and telecommunications companies after the WTO on Tuesday formally adopted a landmark decision reached in March that the United States' restrictions on online gambling were illegal.

"Not only do we think that members should press claims for compensatory adjustments as a matter of economic self-interest, but we also believe it is important that the process is made as difficult as possible for the United States," Ambassador John Ashe of Antigua told the WTO's dispute settlement body.

The gambling dispute is threatening to become one of the most complicated the WTO has ever handled and could soon spark a series of compensation negotiations between the United States and other trading powers such as the European Union.

After losing the case, the U.S. announced that it would take an unprecedented legal step to change the international commitments it made as part of the 1994 GATS treaty regulating the trade in services among the 150 members of the WTO. As a result, the U.S. declined to challenge Tuesday's adoption of the Internet gambling ruling, because it says that its legal maneuver effectively ends the case.

Juan Millan, a U.S. trade lawyer, told the Geneva-based trade body that the procedure _ which no government had previously used to avoid a WTO ruling _ was invoked "in order to bring the United States into compliance and to resolve this dispute permanently."

"This modification will ensure ... the original U.S. intent of excluding gambling from the scope of U.S. commitments," he said.

The U.S. argues that it is also exempt from negotiating compensation to governments _ as required in the GATS clause allowing countries to rewrite their services commitments _ because Internet gambling was never explicitly mentioned in the negotiations of the early 1990s.

The March ruling upheld the U.S. right to prevent offshore betting as a means of protecting public order and public morals. But it said it was illegal to target online gambling, without equally applying the rules to American operators offering remote betting on horse and dog racing.

The former British colony in the Caribbean had been promoting electronic commerce as a way to end the country's reliance on tourism, which was hurt by a series of hurricanes in the late 1990s. There are 32 licensed online casinos in Antigua, employing 1,000 people and generating a yearly revenue of about $130 million. Seven years ago, its casinos had an annual income closer to $1 billion.

The EU has stressed at every stage in the four-year dispute that it would act in support of its interests _ a reference to the British-based companies that lost millions because of the U.S. restrictions. Officials in Brussels said, however, they had yet to notify Washington whether they would submit a compensation claim.

[yskhyr]

cliff notes?

[Angrymoog]

Interesting post.

I'm sure the US will continue to find itself exempt from the consequences of any real or perceived wrongful behavior.

[john voight]

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cliff notes?

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and translation?

[LegendofLink]

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cliff notes?

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and translation?

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yea, is this good or bad for us?

"us" being online poker degenerates

[olivert]

My take:

There will be plenty of horsetrading going on at the WTO so that Antigua will NEVER get its way.

Remember that France, Greece, and Turkey are siding with the U.S.

(France has already kicked out the EPT, the WPT, and the much smaller NPL televised poker promotions. Employees of the EPT, WPT, and the NPL are not even allowed to change planes in France without being subject to arrest under the latest government directive.)

4 states in Germany (Bavaria, Bremen, Hesse, and Saxony) also want to go in the same direction as France, Greece, and Turkey: 100% government monopoly of legalized online gambling, including online and televised poker.

I see Germany as the swing vote in the European Parliament. If a majority of the German states (there are a total of 16) were to decide that they want 100% government monopoly on televised and online poker, then Germany and France will be in position to push legislation through the European Parliament to exclude online and televised poker from free-trade agreements.

Online and televised poker are now seen by many governments as "sure things" because of the amount of "stupid money" that can be made with tournament fees and rake. Governments, with their voracious appetite for tax revenue, want 100% of the "stupid money" out there.

Perhaps we will all end up working at the pleasure of a government entity one day (with the mainland Chinese government projected by some, including me, to be the biggest online and televised poker operator in the world by the middle of the next decade). That seems to be the trend for the online and televised poker business.

(For those of you living in the State of Nevada: you can now legally bet sports online at stationcasinos.com, which has an explicit license from the Nevada State Gaming Control Board.)

http://www.stationcasinos.com/gaming...ts-connection/

[mikechops]

I think we (US) should just invade them. wtf, everybody hates us anyway and it'll put an end to their pesky court case.

[olivert]

The German state of Bavaria lost its case against bwin.

As a result, bwin (and other online gambling sites) can start doing business in Bavaria again.

http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds...fx3735604.html

We have NOT heard the last of this, given that the Bavarian government still wants to implement a 100% monopoly on online gambling.

I (along with hundreds of people in the industry) am watching Germany carefully. If Germany were to tip over to the side of France, Greece, and Turkey, then all of the E.U. may tip over to the "government monopoly" camp.