Gambling News

"WTO Offshore Gambling Ruling Leaves No Clear Winner"

U.S. has legitimate cause for concern over social problems associated with gambling.

The long-awaited WTO appellate body, in a ruling last Thursday regarding the legitimacy of U.S. offshore gambling policies, suggests that neither the U.S. nor Antigua and Barbuda can claim victory or loss. Most readers of the verdict say that it actually rules both in favor and against the two parties.

The original WTO decision agreed with Antigua and Barbuda who argued that the U.S. restrictions against offshore gambling violated international trade agreements that the U.S. had signed. The U.S. appealed against this on the grounds that U.S. restrictions on online gambling were necessary in order to “uphold public morality” and “public order”.

The appellate ruling, while still agreeing with its original findings, added that the U.S. has legitimate cause for concern regarding the social problems associated with gambling and the WTO appellate ruling allows the U.S. to maintain most of its existing online gambling restrictions. Apparently, many of them can remain in place and the U.S. Trade Representative does not feel the need to ask Congress to relax its restrictions on the online gambling industry. Consequently, the U.S. has interpreted the decision as confirmation of its policies.

One attorney arguing Antigua’s case said that the ruling now permits U.S. companies to do business with Antigua-based online gambling companies without fear of prosecution from U.S. legal authorities.

But the WTO’s findings are that U.S. policies are discriminatory, and they ultimately allow American citizens access to domestic gambling services more easily than to offshore online gambling services. Antigua and Barbuda maintain, therefore, that this ruling indicates that U.S. policies do violate the free trade agreements the U.S. has signed and this obligates the U.S. to permit offshore gambling.

Back to Online Gambling News Home