WTO Rules in Favor of Antigua
In a 215-page decision, a three-member World Trade Organization (WTO) compliance panel on Friday ruled in favor of the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda (Antigua), saying that the United States had failed to amend legislation that unfairly targets offshore I-gaming operators. The U.S. government may continue to maintain restrictions on online gambling as long the same restrictions are applied to domestic operators offering online horse betting services, according to the ruling. In the event the two countries fail to reach a settlement, Antigua may apply for sanctions in an annual amount equal to the estimated damage to its economy based upon U.S. non-compliance, said Mark Mendel, counsel for the Antiguan government. Antigua is claiming victory; however, the United States retains the option to appeal, though it did concede that the latest ruling was a setback and has not yet said whether it will appeal the compliance panel's findings. "We are still reviewing our options," said Gretchen Hamel, a spokeswoman for the office of the U.S. Trade Representative Hamel. Antigua initiated the WTO's dispute settlement process in June 2003, and in April 2005, the twin-island nation with a population of 80,000 obtained a ruling that the United States gives preferential treatment to domestic I-gaming operators, which is a violation of an international pact called the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
Efforts to Regulate Online Gambling in Cyprus
The Cyprus Parliament is trying to find a legal way to curb online gambling. Credit card company JCC reports that residents of Cyprus spent more than £28 million in 2006, but the Movement of Social Democrats' (EDEK) Marinos Sizopoulos argued that the numbers were inaccurate and should be much higher because JCC did not take into consideration the money that gets recycled online. "Someone might gamble £5,000 in a day but lose just £100," Sizopoulos said. "That £100 is the figure JCC is left with. According to my own estimates, the exact money that is gambled by Cypriots annually on Internet betting surpasses £1.5 billion, if we take into consideration all the bets that are placed." Finance Ministry spokeswoman Lenia Orphanidou said the ministry is preparing a bill that aims to regulate Internet betting by taxing operators, among other things. She added that the ministry was in talks with Greek lottery operator OPAP and JCC to see how the bill can be regulated. The head of the Association for Confronting Social Problems (SAKOP), Nicos Rossos, suggested a looser regulatory system, similar to that of Switzerland, whereby the government approves certain betting sites, which clearly state the restrictions, protection and tax that gamblers have to pay. He said it would educate the public and leave the decision up to them.
Poland to Regulate Online Gambling
Polish newspaper The Warsaw Voice reports that Poland is planning to introduce regulations for licensing and taxing online gambling. The movement follows the European Court of Justice's ruling in the Placanica case in support of a pan-European marketplace for businesses located in member states.
Current Polish law makes it illegal for citizens to gamble with companies located in other countries, but the number of online gambling sites doing business in Poland has been on a rapid rise.
The Polish finance ministry is working to amend the gambling law to regulate and tax online gambling companies--an approach similar to the one taken in England via the Gambling Act of 2005 (to come into full force in September 2007) and the one adopted by Italy in January 2007.
Sweden to Liberalize Its Gambling Market?
According to Swedish business newspaper Dagens Industri, Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg and Secretary of State Per Jansson are working toward proposing new gambling laws that would liberalize the Swedish market, although it is not yet confirmed. Sweden's gambling market is a monopoly run by state-owned Svenska Spel, which led the European Commission in April 2006 to launch an investigation into whether current Swedish gambling legislation was compliant with European Community law, although the Commission has yet to decide on whether to go ahead with infringement proceedings. The Swedish state also faces a number of domestic court actions from leading operators--such as Unibet, Betsson and Ladbrokes--outraged at being denied access to Swedish gambling market. Swedish courts have in the past upheld Svenska Spel's monopoly on social grounds; however, Svenska Spel recently stepped beyond its own borders by expanding into several Baltic countries, leading some to question why a monopoly operator should be allowed to expand its services into another state without opening up competition in its own.
Drawing Strong Conclusions
According to the Interfax new agency, Ramzan Kadyrov, acting president of the Chechen Republic, is firmly convinced that gambling is a bigger threat to Russia's national security than drugs and that it should be stopped. He went on to say that a person can recover from drug addiction, but that gambling can lead a person to kill his parents and innocent people for money. Kadyrov banned gambling in Chechnya and said the same should be done in Russia. He believes that 80 percent of the population would agree with him.