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Get Rid Of U.s. Online Gambling Discrimination
L.A. Times editorial examines the WTO
vs. USA issue
Solid Sunday reading this week was a succinct but well-informed
editorial opinion in the Los Angeles Times that examined the discriminatory
nature of US legislation dealing with online gambling.
Under the title of "Get Rid of Gambling Restrictions,"
the op-ed piece claims that the U.S. doesn't mind the lottery, but
when it comes to sports betting across interstate or international
boundaries, all bets are off. And it concludes, "They shouldn't
be."
The author points to the David and Goliath nature of the World
Trade Organisation confrontation between the United States and the
government of Antigua and Barbuda, which the islanders won recently
despite a US appeal. Postulating that the tiny Caribbean island
government could be the one to force its overwhelmingly powerful
neighbour into compliance, the writer points to the discriminatory
nature of US legislative "carve-outs" for horse racing,
state lotteries and fantasy sports.
"Not since 1960 has it been legal under federal law to place
or take bets on sports using interstate or international phone lines,"
the piece continues. "The Federal Wire Act of 1961 and subsequent
measures have been interpreted to ban online gambling as well, or
at least gambling on sports. At issue is whether those laws constitute
"arbitrary and unjustifiable discrimination" against foreign
firms.
"Do they? Antigua and Barbuda argue that they do - and the
World Trade Organisation agrees. So do we."
Perhaps arguably, the writer claims that the US ban, which is targeted
on preventing financial transactions with online gambling companies,
has had little effect. "It hasn't stopped Americans from betting
(and losing) millions of dollars at online casinos and bookmaking
operations based in other countries. Nevertheless, U.S. policy has
irritated many of its trading partners, including Antigua and Barbuda,
which asked the WTO in 2003 to rule that U.S. gambling restrictions
violated an international treaty governing trade in services.
"Eventually, in 2005, a WTO appeals panel accepted the U.S.
argument that its gambling restrictions were needed to protect public
order and morals.
"But by permitting off-track betting parlours in the U.S.,
the WTO ruled, Congress created an exception to the ban on remote
gambling that discriminated against foreign bookmakers. After two
more years of wrangling over what the panel's order meant, a WTO
tribunal ruled late last month that the U.S. remained out of compliance."
The editorial concludes with the view that the U.S. faces trade
sanctions from the WTO unless Congress does one of two things: Either
acknowledge that betting on horses from overseas is no greater threat
to the nation's moral fiber than it is at an OTB parlour, or make
OTB parlours illegal.
"Maybe it doesn't have the stomach for either. If so, then
Antigua and Barbuda may want to ask the WTO to ponder why allowing
the interstate sale of lottery tickets - a form of state-sponsored
gambling - is any less hypocritical than the U.S. stance on thoroughbreds
and trotters."
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