BRIEFS FOR the tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua are awaiting to
hear news of an appeal by the US government to the World Trade
Organisation ruling over online gambling.
In November last year, Antigua won a David vs Goliath battle in the WTO
over the US's ban on online gambling which it said amounted to a halt
on free trade.
Antigua's online gambling outfits rely a lot on the US market whose
citizens were dead keen on the idea until the Government decided that
for their own good the practice needed to be stopped.
Winning the court battle was not enough for Antiqua, as the US could appeal and it has until tomorrow to do so.
If it doesn't, or the WTO rejects the appeal, the ruling could have a
huge impact on the online gambling industry. According to Joslyn Tinker
from Cancan Communications who are representing Antigua the US will
have to open up the multi-million pound online gaming industry to
competition from outside the US borders.
This will include the myriad UK and Irish operators the currently avoid
the rich American market for fear of legal repercussions. Although the
US could just ignore the ruling, Tinker thinks that the US has too much
to lose by not cooperating with the WTO.
"The US use WTO as a sort of “tin-opener” to get their large
corporations into smaller, developing nations’ economies. They can’t be
hypocritical and ignore this ruling. They haven’t put forward any valid
arguments they might cite as reasons for appeal," she said.
We suggest they will probably use the argument that the US was founded
by puritans who left Europe because there was too much fun there and
they felt they had been commanded by God to have a miserable time.
The Enquirer
