EU looks to open up US gambling market
9th November, 2007
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandleson has said that The United States needs to change a law that discriminates against European companies that want to offer online gambling to the US market.
"What we need to see is a change in U.S. legislation that removes that discrimination against EU operators," the EU’s top trade official said on Thurday. "It's not in the interest of American consumers to have good responsible competitors in this market excluded by regulatory mechanisms."
The European Union and similar trading groups have been locked in compensation talks with the United States over the decision from Washington to remove gambling services. The decision was made because the World Trade Organisation (WTO) found a US law allowing only domestic companies to provide online horse-racing gambling service discriminated against foreign companies.
Instead of opening up the market to allow external offerings, the US congress passed a defacto ban last year on virtually all internet gambling by making it illegal for credit services to make payments to online gambling sites.
EU-based gambling companies have since shown support for the case brought by Antigua and, and Mandleson has been urged to seek as much as £100billion in compensation after the closure of the US market. He justified that "When a member of the WTO defaults on its commitments, compensation is due. That's the case of online gambling. We're in talks about the magnitude of that compensation. I think what we're asking for is reasonable and realistic. The numbers aren't quite as large as has been advertised, but they need to be substantial."
