Despite disapproval from the U.S. Department of Justice, gaming regulators in the U.S. Virgin Islands plan to move forward with interactive gaming initiatives.
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"Nothing has changed except for the fact that now their opinions on the matter are known to the public."
- Eileen Peterson
USVI Casino Control Commission
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It remains to be seen, however, whether any operators will be willing to relocate to the jurisdiction knowing the U.S. government is ready to challenge them in courts.
The DOJ this month issued a letter to the U.S. Virgin Islands' justice department informing them that operating online gambling services in the territory, even with a U.S.V.I license, would violate the Federal Wire Act of 1961.
Judge Eileen Peterson, chair of the U.S. Virgin Islands Casino Control Commission, said the DOJ letter won't change their plans, but she's unsure whether operators will want to take the chance.
"It is to hard to say if there are operators out there willing to challenge the U.S. government out there," she said. "We have not rescinded any licenses and will move forward if there are operators that want to come here."
While the DOJ letter is the first public blow for the U.S. Virgin Islands' hopes of stabling a viable jurisdiction for the interactive gaming industry, the contents of the letter didn't surprise Peterson.
"We knew they have kind of felt this way from the very beginning," she said. "They made it clear that they felt we shouldn't be moving forward, but we see it differently and have continued with the process knowing we didn't have their blessing. Nothing has changed except for the fact that now their opinions on the matter are known to the public."
Peterson said the commission began studying interactive gambling more than two years ago and officials within the territory's attorney general's office looked into the legality of licensing online casinos and sports books from the island.
The commission granted a master license for I-gaming to USVIHost, a subsidiary of USVI Technologies Initiative, in September 2003. At that time, USVIHost said it would probably take nine months to a year to get its (yet to be determined) first licensee up and running.
The group also stated intensions of licensing "tier-one" operators--a goal made more difficult by the DOJ position.
Peterson pointed out, however, that the U.S. Virgin Islands' justice department holds a different view.
"We asked for the attorney general's office to clarify some questions for us a while back and it was determined that our laws and regulations were fully compliant with all applicable federal laws," Peterson explained.
The timing of the DOJ letter didn't surprise Peterson either. As the U.S. Virgin Islands moves toward regulating Interactive gambling, the federal U.S. government argues its case to the World Trade Organization in a battle with Antigua and Barbuda in which Antigua is challenging the United States' efforts to block its citizens from using credit cards to pay for online gambling.
"I think the Antigua case kind of made the DOJ come out and say this was a violation of the Wire Act," Peterson said.