Antigua and Barbuda Asks WTO to go after U.S.

Soon, money might be involved.

Antigua and Barbuda asked all members of the World Trade Organization to file compensation claims against the United States after the United States rejected the WTO's ruling that it's in the wrong by trying to stop offshore online gambling companies from doing business with Americans.

The WTO ruled that the U.S. is in violation of the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) because the U.S. has repeatedly tried to stop its citizens from accessing and taking part in online gaming.

The U.S. claims it's not in violation - even though a WTP court has ruled otherwise - because it never thought online gambling would be considered as "recreation" when officials signed the GATS about a decade ago.

So instead of following the WTO's decision that the U.S. is in violation of WTO agreements because it works to stop offshore online gambling countries from doing business with Americans, the U.S. will only revise the GATS agreement to reflect the current climate toward online gambling. The U.S. feels this will put itself inline with WTO rules even though the main issue the WTO has with the U.S. trying to stop offshore companies is that is allows forms of online gambling to take part here (horse betting and lottery).

Antigua and Barbuda asked WTO members to file claims for future losses the country may endure as a result of the U.S. violating the GATS agreement. With more countries getting into the online gambling game - the United Kingdom being the largest and most powerful one in that mix - the chance that the U.S. will get sued by its fellow WTO members for its stance increases.

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