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| | | June 29 - It was not long ago when the small Caribbean nation of Antigua
and Barbuda took a stand again the United States regarding lost revenues as
a result of the super-power's decision to exclude online gambling from its General Agreement of Trade in Services Agreement (GATS).
Using the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a platform to address the issue,
Antigua and Barbuda surprised the online gambling world when the WTO upheld the islands' claim against the US and now Macau and Australia have also entered the fray, bringing the total number of claims for compensation against the US to
seven.
Macau and Australia have joined Antigua and Barbuda, along with India, the EU,
Canada and Costa Rica in their dispute against the United States after the US
excluded online gambling from its GATS last week.
It seems that the contemporary 'David vs. Goliath' story is turning into 'multiple Davids vs. Goliath' with the United States being increasingly portrayed as the
'bad guy' as it faces growing pressure from the World Trade Organization and
many countries around the world to amend its GATS schedule.
In March this year, the WTO ruled that the United States could not allow
domestic gambling firms to offer online horse race betting or online lotteries
without giving offshore-based online gambling companies an equal opportunity to
market to its online gambling market.
Of course, how the United States will respond is anyone's guess as the US is
well known for arrogantly ignoring world opinion in general as well as pressure
from many global interest organizations.
Anyone remember how the US famously
ignored the United Nations recommendations not to invade Iraq, and went ahead
anyway based on an imaginary stockpile of weapons of mass destruction?
The only weapon of mass destruction these days seems to be the United States itself.
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