This morning I was looking for something to write about as usual, and started chatting with my friend Chuck in the US while I was working. We were talking about my soon to end work (just four more articles including this one) and about the internet gambling industry at large. He informed me that he read somewhere this past week about how the World Trade Organization (WTO) was considering going after the United States for upping the ante with their anti-internet gambling legislation. Chuck was aware, because I had told him about it previously, that the WTO was after the US for a few years now regarding their position on online gambling. I explained to Chuck that even if the WTO spent their time and won against the US it wouldn't matter. He asked me about Antigua and Barbuda, the two countries which filed the suit against the US in WTO court. These two countries used to live off of the US through tourism, then a host of natural disasters destroyed the tourist industry and they had to find something new. That something was online gambling countries. It seems that nearly eighty percent (or some incredibly high percentage) of these two countries workers are in the internet gambling industry. Now that the US has taken themselves out of the game all of the countries online poker rooms, sports books, and casinos are doing massive layoffs and there isn't anything to take their place. The two countries will be financially devastated and there isn't much they can do. I had mentioned it in articles before, but Antigua and Barbuda going after the US in WTO court is like the shortest scrawniest smallest kid in school going after the linebacker or fullback (American football reference). The big guy has one arm out holding the top of the little guys head as the little guy swings valiantly, but ultimately does nothing but humiliate himself. It isn't a pretty site. At the end of the day, what could Antigua or Barbuda do? Any sanctions they place against the US will hurt them more that it will hurt the US. Embargo the US? What do they export that the US cares about? The one thing they have, internet gambling, is the one thing the US doesn't want. Do they have a case? Of course they do. The US allows for online pari-mutuel wagering, internet lotteries, and "PlayAway" which is a Keno game that you buy from a land-based casino and receive the results from online. In other words, the US allows for internet gambling. What they do not allow is off-shore online gambling. Actually, their stance on that hasn't changed. They still haven’t technically made internet gambling legal or illegal. Online sports books are illegal, the US court has decided on that, but poker rooms and casinos are still a gray area. However, it doesn't matter since the new anti-internet gambling law doesn't allow for deposits from any US based financial institution into any off-shore online gambling establishment. The fact that they allow for deposits into on-shore gambling establishments is simply economic protectionism, which is exactly what they are not supposed to be doing according to the trade agreement they have with the WTO. From there Chuck and I started to talk about cornbread. He wasn't so interested in me ranting about my industry for some reason. He'd rather chat about food. You see, while I don't live in the US I refuse to give up Thanksgiving and every year I go to my brothers for the holiday where every American in the city we live in seems to show up. This year I want to make cornbread, but I've never made it before, so I planned on making it today for a test run. Then it turns out that the pan I have is a 9 inch and the recipe is for an 8 inch baking dish. Chuck happens to be a chef, as in really went to school and got his diploma from a culinary institute chef, so I knew he'd be able to help me out. Tonight I'm following his directions and cornbread I will make. I don't have to make the cornbread. The request was actually for my sweet potato mash but I thought I would do this as well. To be honest I was kind of insulted to be given such an easy recipe for the event. I like to bring things that show off my culinary skills, and really, how hard is it to add cream and butter to your mash to make it extra creamy and delicious? Thanksgiving is the day where millions of US residents will be eating turkey and watching the big game on TV. They will be making bets with their friends on who will win that big game, maybe they will join a pool at work and whoever wins the spread will get the money. What they will not be doing is gambling in an online sportsbook, because the US has decided that one form of gambling is ok, but others are not. Discrimination? Yes, but they can and so they will. Posted on: November 20, 2006
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