By Shari Geller and Lou Krieger
According to a report in the Reuters news service this afternoon, the U.S. may have opened itself up to a new challenge in front of the World Trade Organization when it shut down certain offshore Internet gambling sites last Friday. Apparently, officials from the tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, which licenses Absolute Poker, among other internet gambling companies, are considering bringing an action against the U.S. before the WTO for discriminatory trade practices.
Antigua's finance minister, Harold Lovell, issued a statement on Wednesday calling the recent shutdown discriminatory against foreign businesses and an illegal attempt to quash offshore competition for legal gambling dollars, calling them examples of “economic protectionism at its worst.”
"I am concerned that at this point in time United States authorities continue to prosecute non-domestic suppliers of remote gaming services in clear contravention of international law," Lovell said. “I am not aware of any other situation where a member of the World Trade Organization has subjected persons to criminal prosecution under circumstances where the WTO has expressly ruled that to do so is in breach of international law.”
Antigua’s legal counsel in the WTO matter, Mark Mendel, had a similar reaction. He said, “The WTO ruled that these kinds of laws criminalizing the provision of remote gaming services are contrary to the obligations of the United States under the WTO agreements. The United States, being a very heavy user of the WTO rules to its own benefit, simply cannot continue to prosecute persons for engaging in legitimate International commerce."
He added, of the recent U.S. government seizures, "This is very hard to reconcile not only with its pronouncements regarding the imperative of other countries to strictly observe their WTO trade obligations, but also with stated official United States government policy of adherence to the rule of law.” The attorney suggested that “it might be time for Antigua to go back to the WTO to compel American compliance.”
This would not be Antigua and Barbuda’s first action against the U.S. for its attacks on offshore based online gambling. In 2003, after the United States made it illegal for online gambling operators there to do business in the U.S, Antigua and Barbuda took the matter to the WTO, claiming that the U.S. had violated trade treaties.
In 2005, the WTO ruled that the U.S. had indeed violated international trade agreements by banning operation of offshore Internet gambling sites. Antigua claimed losses in the amount of $3.4 billion a year due to the U.S. action, but the WTO ultimately awarded $21 million in damages against the U.S.
Having previously prevailed in its effort to have the U.S. anti-Internet gambling actions ruled discriminatory, according to Lovell, “We are confident that the WTO rulings have significant strength and we are now looking into ways to capiltalise on that to achieve our objectives.”
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