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USA Online Gambling Policy Vs WTO Treaties
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Author: Marc Weinberg
October 9 - The current USA administration has an interesting relationship with organizations like the WTO and the UN. When they agree with US policy they are championed, and when the US breaks those treaties or runs afoul of international law they are ignored by the government, and villified in the US media.
The new online gambling bill is a prime example of this as it would appear to violate various international treaties. Member nations of the WTO have already argued (and won the case) that the US policy towards online gambling, which includes online poker by the way (regardless of what some online poker rooms might think), constitues protectionism and violates WTO tenets.
There is a landmark case between Antigua and the USA regarding the latter's attempts to prevent its citizens from trading with online gambling companies based in the former, which has now dragged on for over a year FOLLOWING the decision of the WTO in favor of Antigua and against the USA. The USA's response to losing the case has been nothing short of brazen arrogance - they simply ignored the ruling as if it never happened.
It's typical behavior from the current administration of course. When the UN clearly explained that a war in Iraq violated international law and flouted the sovereignty of a fellow nation state the USA's response was a giant middle finger to the world. So why would they respect the WTO or Antigua's economic rights over a matter as trivial by comparison as online gambling?
For those of you expecting America to do the right thing, to respect other nations' rights, or the rulings of independent international organizations, you are wasting your collective time and energy. The USA will continue to wage a losing crusade against select forms of online gambling (the forms that they cannot control) against the wishes of the vast majority of Americans.
Online poker will suffer as a result, and nine months from now there is a very real possibility that no American will be able to play poker on the Internet. By then the Republicans will no longer run the Senate, but that won't matter because overturning this law will be a lot harder than implementing it.
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