Online Casino News
Antigua Makes a move against the U.S.
The Caribbean island nation of Antigua has won its
latest long-shot effort to force the U.S. to open its
market to offshore gambling, according to a confidential
report issued by the World Trade Organization.
A United States Trade Representative official said in
a report that concludes the U.S. "has not taken the
necessary steps" to resolve the long-running dispute
between the U.S. and Antigua. This could be because of
the focus on blocking payment providers.
The USTR officially stressed that the report is only
an interim conclusion by the WTO and that the U.S. will
have an opportunity to respond before the final report
is issued in March. Even then, the USTR will have
opportunities to appeal any decision unfavorable to the
U.S. The WTO allows countries to keep services,
including gambling, off their list of free trade
obligations to other WTO members as long the country
bans those services at home.
Antigua contends the U.S. is not consistent in its
application of laws banning Internet gambling since it
permits interstate online horse racing gambling. The WTO
agreed with Antigua in a report issued in 2005. In that
report, the WTO acknowledged the U.S. would have to turn
to Congress to repair the discrepancy in its laws. Last
year, Congress attached the Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act of 2006 to a port authority bill and
President Bush signed it into law.
The new law prohibits U.S. banks, financial
institutions and other third-party money exchange
operations from processing payments to over 2,300
offshore gambling sites located outside of U.S.
jurisdiction. The law, however, specifically exempts
state-sanctioned online gambling on horse racing and
lotteries. "We just need to clarify one narrow issue
involving remote gambling on horse racing," Gretchen
Hamel, a spokesperson for the USTR, said.
Antigua, the smallest member of the WTO, said the
apparent inconsistency serves as a basis for Americans
to legally gamble through online, offshore gambling
casinos based in Antigua.
Because Antigua has many hurricanes hurting their
economy, they are trying everything to keep it flowing
smoothly. The dispute between Antigua and the U.S. began
back in 2000 when Congress changed the language in the
Interstate Horseracing Act to accommodate national
betting through simulcasts at tracks throughout the
country. As part of the change, Congress expanded the
definition of an interstate off-track bet to include
pari-mutuel wagers transmitted between states by way of
telephone or other electronic media such as the
Internet.
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