Antigua PM Discusses Online Gambling Dispute With US Congress

The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Baldwin Spencer, led his team during a regional business conference into discussion with members of US Congress that included NY Democrat Charles Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. The topic of discussion was Spencer's desire to resolve the long-running dispute with the US over Internet gambling.

Spencer hoped to provide his colleagues to the north with a more positive viewpoint on the prospect of Internet gambling and to reveal to the US that their current stance on such markets is a hypocrisy.

The Prime Minister stated, "We're hoping that coming out of this dialogue here, Charlie Rangel would have a better and greater appreciation of Antigua and Barbuda's position.

Passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) last year by the United States government criminalized the act of financial institutions facilitating transactions between US customers and online gambling operations. However, the UIGEA violated a long-standing trade agreement with the WTO and it's members. Antigua and Barbuda filed relative claims with the WTO against the US on numerous occasions and won each dispute.

The WTO ordered the US to re-open it's 'remote gambling' market, in compliance with their previous trade commitments, but the US instead took the unprecedented route of withdrawing these commitments from their trade agreement. The WTO allowed this, but declared that the US must invoke corresponding laws against remote gambling within their borders, as well as providing compensation to all members of the WTO who were effected by the sudden withdraw of the US from the online gambling market.

Antigua filed the first compensation claim against the US and was followed soon by the nations of Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Japan, Macau and the European Union, which consists of 27 nations itself.

Charles Rangel's position as House Ways and Means Committee Chairman puts him in charge of overseeing tax legislation, giving him a brighter perspective of what the US has gotten itself into. Rangel stated his belief that the US government has overstepped it's authority in regards to this long-standing dispute.