Antigua out for blood over US online gambling ban

Geneva (Switzerland) – The tiny Caribbean island nations of Antigua and Barbuda are seeking $3.4 billion in annual sanctions against the United States for blocking the islands’ online gambling industry. The two countries have won several WTO rulings and is now seeking sanctions because of US non-compliance. The United States makes offshore online betting illegal, but the WTO has said this ban doesn’t exempt all countries equally.

Back in April 2005, the WTO court in Switzerland said that the United States could ban online gambling, but that it couldn’t ban it from one country and allow it from another – basically any prohibition would have to affect everyone equally. In 2006, the United States passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which itself was buried as Title VIII under the Safe Port act. In that act, the US banned banks and credit card firms from paying online gambling sites. Interestingly enough, there were exemptions added for US-based horse racing and Tribal betting. You can read the text of the act here.

In addition to the $3.4 billion in sanctions, Antigua and Barbuda want the WTO to allow it to ignore US trademark and copyright laws as compensation. If the WTO agrees, then Antigua and Barbuda could conceivably manufacture knock-off name brands like Nike and Abercrombie and Fitch to their hearts content.

At a recent White House meeting, Antigua Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer told President Bush of Antigua’s intent to sue in WTO court over the gambling ban.

Antigua has a population of 69,000 and hundreds of people are employed in the online gambling industry which rakes in an estimated $15.5 billion dollars. Most of the online gamblers that frequented the Caribbean gambling sites were from the United States.