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Could
UIGEA Be Reversed? Part I of III
The
United States had decided that they
objected to internet gambling and slot
machines and they were going to make it
illegal. They decided that they did not
want the “moral fiber” of their country
compromised, so they made a blanket
ruling that there was to be no more
internet gambling. There is only one
problem with this, they affected other
countries as well as ours with the ban.
Countries like Antigua and Barbuda get a
large portion of their income from the
United States and the licensed gambling
operators that work within their
borders. They usually get about one
billion dollars in revenue from the US,
and with the ban they noticed that they
were getting significantly less. So they
took a good long look at the way the US
handles online gambling and decided to
take their beef to the World Trade
Organization.
So they went to the WTO who agreed with
them since the US was obviously in
direct violation of the free trade
obligations. The Antiguan government
asked that they make the US reopen their
borders. Their argument was that the US
was discriminating against them because
they allow gambling within their
borders, but would not let other
countries in to compete. Therefore they
were violating the free trade agreement.
The US said that they don’t allow
internet gambling within their borders
either using a “morals” defense which
countries are allowed to do. However,
since they actually do allow some
internet gambling they were still in
violation. So the WTO gave the US one
year to comply with their order to
either completely ban online gambling or
they had to open their borders.
Next time we discuss what happened after
the year was up, and what the US
government had to say to the WTO.
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