WTO May Step In To Online Gambling Dispute

Reuters today reported an EU trade official as saying he expected the European Commission to decide by the end of the year whether to report the U.S. to the World Trade Organisation for breaching rules relating to online gaming.

The U.S. introduced the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006 effectively excluding many European based gaming operators from offering their services to U.S. citizens. PartyGaming and 888.com were among companies which withdrew their services from the country after the act was passed and have subsequently lost billions of dollars in revenue.

In March 2008 the Commission launched an investigation into what it sees as a breach of open market WTO rules and a delegation for the Commission has just concluded a round of meetings with the U.S. Trade Representatives office.

Lode Van Den Hende, outside counsel for the Remote Gambling Association, an lobby organisation for gaming operators in the EU, said “It looks very much as if this matter will ... be sent to the WTO at the end of the commission's investigation.”

Reuters also reported that Robert Wexler, a Florida Democrat who chairs the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Europe, was worried that the EU’s concerns were not being taken seriously in the U.S. “I am increasingly concerned that if these disputes are not able to be resolved, it will likely mean costly retaliatory measures will be taken against U.S. economic interests,” he said.

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