Antigua to ask WTO for final resolution and arbitration to get US to comply

<TABLE height=291 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=10 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Antigua to ask WTO for final resolution [/font]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Antigua is set to ask the WTO to start an arbitration process that should lead to a final conclusion in its egaming dispute with the US. [/font]</TD></TR><TR><TD height=17>[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A recent ruling by the WTO found the US was in contravention of trade rules by restricting access to Antiguan egaming sites.

But the US has yet to reveal what action it intends to take as a result of the WTO ruling, much to the frustration of Dr Errol Cort, Antigua and Barbuda’s minister of finance and the economy.

Cort told an Antiguan newspaper the domicile would trigger the arbitration process in the WTO, which would determine "a reasonable timeframe within which the US is expected to comply with the WTO ruling".

A previous meeting in Washington between the Antiguan and US delegations ended fruitlessly after both sides failed to agree on a resolution.

Antigua is now expected to ask the WTO to put together an arbitration panel, whose conclusions will be binding.

Both sides will be allowed to make representation to a WTO panel in due course.

A binding decision is then made in 30 days following the representations.
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]http://www.egrmagazine.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?section=3&id=801&action=display
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Exactly WHAT does Antigua want the US to do ? I'm am totally confused anymore (maybe my age). About 50% more or less here say that internet wagering is not illegal ; in itself; on the Federal level for the recreational player.

Is it simply at this point, that Antigua wants the US to force credit card companies to accept internet deposits to sportsbooks? As I said; I'm simply confused.

I think they want them to semi regulate it or give them official permission to allow net wagering on there islands, think of the mass of books that would move to antigua of that happended??

Dante said:

I think they want them to semi regulate it or give them official permission to allow net wagering on there islands, think of the mass of books that would move to antigua of that happended??

Click to expand...

You're probably right there Dante. But it all still has a kinda "fuzziness," sound to exactly what they want.

monicus said:

USA currently allows people to bet on horses over the Internet legally. But it also makes it illegal for foreign companies to over wagering services to American’s over the Internet. Thus the problem and why Antigua won. You can't say something is illegal for foreign companies and legal for domestic ones. The US will either have to make Internet horse-wagering illegal, which isn't likely considering the horse lobby was powerful enough to get it legalized in the first place. Or Antigua must be allowed to offer wagering services to Americans, which is even less likely. The US has probably been trying to buy them off and make it go away but to their credit Antigua has held firm for real settlement. A binding arbitration should be very interesting to watch.

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"Binding Arbitration"; This has the sound of US taxpayers paying a foreign country a fee----NOT to allow US citizens to participate in something of their own free will . I hope Antigua will NOT back down one little inch from their stance. Secondly....what about other countries Curaco, Costa Rica and The United Kingdom........would they not also be involved for lost business???
INTERESTING INDEED.
I see a 60 minute segement on the horizon.

More books should relocate to Antigua and pay that $100,000 for a license with a WTO blessing:toast: .

Antigua wants the US to comply with the ruling.

The ruling has nothing to do with horse racing, that was a side road the US took everyone down when they tried to claim a moral aversion to gambling. Antigua was not challenging the Interstate Horseracing Act despite how the US tries to spin it.

The ruling stated that the Wire Act, the Travel Act, and the Illegal Gambling Business Act were NOT in compliance with the GATS when they are applied to Antiguan companies.

Antigua wants the US to stop applying these laws to Antiguan operators. Truth be told, they were over interpreting them in the first place with respect to their application to offshore operators. So it shouldn't be so difficult to stop applying them to Antiguan operators.

Yes, Antigua will be cherry picking the cream of the crop once this decision is enforced. Second and third tier books need not apply.