EU calls US online gambling laws "protectionism"

If anyone has already posted this I apologize, but its all over the financial media this morning that the EU is none too pleased with the online gambling law--they call it "protectionism"--and they may fight it:

http://today.reuters.com/news/artic...l&WTmodLoc=InternetNewsHome_C2_internetNews-6

Yea, I think the subpoenas to investment banks involved in IPO's was the last straw.

After causing a huge financial loss in the gaming sector the US DOJ through its subpoenas has asserted jurisdiction over a critical function of foreign financial markets. The EU presumeably doesn't like its financial markets being held hostage to US law and is threatening to push back.

I hope the banks ignore all those subpoenas. What could the US then do? Cut them out of the US market and cripple international trade?

USA government badly needs to be knocked down a few notches. They are totally out of control at home and abroad.

EU may challenge U.S. online gambling law
Tue Jan 30, 2007 10:36 AM ET

By Huw Jones

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. restrictions on online gambling may be challenged by the European Union, the bloc's top financial regulator said on Tuesday.

The legality of Internet gambling in the United States was ambiguous for many years, but it was effectively banned last October when President Bush signed legislation outlawing financial transactions for gaming.

Several British online gambling firms were forced out of the U.S. market as a result.

"In my view it is probably a restrictive practice and we might take it up in another fora," EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy told the European Parliament.

The United States was protecting its own gambling industry by stopping foreign companies from entering the online betting sector, McCreevy said.

"It's not my intention to bring forward a harmonized piece of legislation on gambling in the European Union," McCreevy added.

U.S. pressure on the industry continues.

The U.S. Justice Department last week demanded information from some of the world's biggest investment banks as part of the probe into online gambling companies such as Britain's PartyGaming.

The move was the latest in a U.S. crackdown on online gaming, which began with the arrest of BETonSPORTS' Scottish Chief Executive David Carruthers in Texas last July.

McCreevy later told reporters the U.S. rules were a "prima facie" case of protectionism and that the World Trade Organization was a possible venue for tackling them.

However, due to the WTO's protracted negotiations to secure a new world trade agreement, he would not rush to file a complaint.

"It's not something of major momentum," McCreevy said.

There have been no face-to-face talks about the issue with Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, McCreevy said.

McCreevy has launched legal actions against several EU countries to tackle obstacles to foreign competition.