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WTO ruling won’t help internet gamblers
Ruling won’t help internet gamblers
By: Elihu Feustel
http://www.sportsbookreview.com
The recent WTO ruling against the USA might recoup a little money for Antigua, but it won't help the regular Joe in the US trying to make a wager over the internet.
Much excitement has been made over a series of WTO rulings in favor of Antigua and Barbuda against the U.S. involving internet gambling. A complaint was first brought before the WTO in 2003. Various US laws and actions were interfering with Antigua’s ability to export gaming services, notably the Interstate Wire Act, and US penalties on banks and credit card companies.
Of Antigua and Barbuda’s $800 Million GDP, roughly 10% of it was generated by the exporting of gambling services. A vast majority of that was generated in the U.S. If the U.S. continued its crackdown on internet gambling, it could cost Antigua in excess of $70 Million per year in lost exports.
In the January 2007 ruling, the WTO confirmed that the U.S. was unfairly competing against online horse-racing wagering, and that the U.S. had not brought its laws into compliance with the earlier 2005 ruling. Notably, the ruling excluded sports betting.
So what does that mean for average gamblers? Unfortunately, very little.
The current ruling is limited to horse racing, which is a small segment of online gambling, perhaps 20%. If the U.S. continues discriminating against foreign race books, Antigua could potentially lose about $16 Million in exports per year. Normally, the WTO allows an injured country to enact tariffs or penalties in the same industry where the discrimination occurred. As this is not practical - - the U.S. does not export gambling services - - Antigua has requested a different form of retaliation: consent to ignore certain U.S. intellectual property rights. If things played out most favorable to Antigua, they might be permitted to do so in a limited fashion. The objective would be the recovery of the lost exports, or about $16 Million per year.
How would the U.S. react to such a scenario? It would do nothing - allowing Antigua to recover its loss as dictated by the WTO, but maintaining the U.S. ban on internet gambling. This would not be the first time the U.S. has blatantly disregarded a WTO ruling and simply paid a penalty.
In 2001, the U.S. lost in a dispute versus Europe regarding anti-dumping laws (or the 'Byrd Amendment'). The history of that dispute is eerily similar to this one: the U.S. lost, asked for time to become compliant, and did absolutely nothing to become compliant with the WTO order. In the end, the U.S. paid $180 Million per year in retaliatory tariffs rather than change its laws.
While the recent WTO rulings in favor Antigua aren’t going to make internet gambling any easier, there is some hope for would-be gamblers. The European Union may file a WTO complaint, which could not be ignored as easily as the current one. A number of factors make this more likely now than in years past: Antigua’s partial victory; the burgeoning European sportsbook industry; and the U.S. abduction of executives of publicly traded companies (Neteller and BetOnSports).
But until this happens, gamblers will have to visit their favorite brick and mortar casino, or move to Canada.
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Originally Posted by SBRforum Staff
