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| | | May 23 - Like a contemporary David and Goliath story, the tiny Caribbean
nation of Antigua and Barbuda secured a large victory against the United States
this week after the US announced that it would not appeal a recent decision
handed down by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Antigua and Barbuda are seeking compensation from the United States over its
illegal restrictions regarding online gambling sites based outside the US, and
called for other countries to target Washington DC for its failure to comply
with global trade rules.
The United States formerly accepted a decision reached last month by the WTO
that its online gambling restriction were illegal.
In addition, the super-power
said that it would take the unprecedented legal step to change the international
commitments it made as part of the 1994 GATS treaty which regulates the trade in
services amongst the WTO's 150 members.
The WTO's March ruling upheld the right of the US to prevent offshore
gambling and betting in order protect 'public order and morals'. However, it
went on to say that it was illegal for the US to target online gambling without
applying the same rules to its own gambling operators offering remote horse and dog
race betting.
This online gambling dispute could become one of the most complicated the WTO has ever dealt with and could set off a chain of compensation negotiations
between the US and other trading powers including the European Union (EU).
Antigua and Barbuda, formerly British colony, is an active supporter of
e-commerce as a way to end the country's reliance on tourism which was heavily
affected by a wave of hurricanes in the late 1990s.
Currently Antigua holds gambling licenses for 32 online casinos in Antigua in
an industry that generates annual revenues of approximately $130 million and
employees around a 1000 people.
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