Antigua’s minister of finance, Dr. Errol Cort, after an unsuccessful visit to the U.S. where he tried to convince officials there to accept the WTO’s ruling on U.S. anti-online gambling policy, said he was baffled and dismayed by the recent Congressional approval of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

Cort commented: "It is remarkable that on the heels of our visit, during the course of which we highlighted the desire of Antigua to amicably work together with the United States Government in ensuring the safe delivery of these services to consumers in America, that Congress should choose to further protect their remote domestic industry at the cost of countries such as Antigua and Barbuda."

The new legislation effectively bans all international and inter-state online gaming financial transactions by making it illegal for banks and credit card firms to make payments to online gambling operations. At the same time, however, the Antiguan minister said that the U.S. is expanding domestic opportunities for legal Internet gambling by finding exemptions for domestic operations from the same legislation.

In an attempt to convince the American government to comply with the WTO ruling, Dr. Cort and his delegation held a series of meetings with representatives from the Department of Justice, the US Department of State as well as with members of Congress and the U.S. Trade Representative.

It is believed that approximately 25 percent of the online gambling bets placed by U.S. residents are placed via Antiguan-based operators.

Antigua has also expressed alarm over other recent anti-online gambling maneuvers by the U.S, such as the June 1st indictment against BetonSports and the attempted extradition by Louisiana authorities of Sportingbet chairman, Peter Dicks. The indictment against BetonSports, which ran its U.S. Internet business out of Antigua and Costa Rica, effectively shut down the company.

The recent legislation is seen by almost all commentators outside of the US as blatantly protectionist and hypocritical as well as highly political.

"This baldly protectionist legislation, tacked on to a major security bill at the last possible minute, is as contrary to the decision of the WTO in our case as can possibly be imagined," said the lead lawyer of Antigua’s WTO legal team, Mark Mendel. "Expanding domestic remote gambling while at the same time further impeding our operators the right to provide these services - which the United States committed to do under the WTO agreements - is almost impossible to comprehend."

Posted on: October 17, 2006

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