WTO ruling delayed

14 December 2007

Reuters is reporting that the WTO ruling on how much Antigua & Barbuda will receive from the U.S. in damages in its ongoing online gambling trade dispute has been delayed.

News of the delay came from a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office. No announcement has been made by the WTO.

Antigua & Barbuda won its trade dispute with the U.S. when the WTO ruled the U.S. was discriminating against foreign companies by allowing domestic companies to offer online betting, but not offshore firms.

The U.S. subsequently chose to exclude online gambling from its General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) rather than open up its market to foreign online betting companies.

Antigua & Barbuda is seeking $3.4 billion in compensation for this decision. They've also asked the WTO for permission to suspend intellectual property protections for software, movies and music if no agreement can be reached.

Reuters is reporting that the U.S. is offering Antigua & Barbuda $500,000. The European Union, Japan, Australia and Costa are other members of the WTO seeking compensation for the loss of income in the wake of the U.S. decision to amend its GATS.



Vin Narayanan

Articles by Vin Narayanan is the former managing editor at Casino City and has been involved in the gaming industry for over a decade Vin is currently based in Hong Kong, where he runs his own consultant group and works as head of gaming and public relations for Mega Digital Entertainment Group.

Before joining Casino City, Vin covered (not all at the same time) sports, politics and elections, wars, technology, celebrities and the Census for USATODAY.com, USA WEEKEND and CNN.