The USA Challenged
Back in June 2007, The European Union (EU) stated their intent to file for compensation from the USA. Their intention was to file for trade related on the grounds that the USA's implementation of their gambling ban was in breech of fair trade. On Friday morning, the USA forwarded an offer which was abruptly rejected by the EU, considered insulting.
The EU insist that the USA have failed to comply with global trade rules when banning non American gambling sites from doing business in the USA.
Back in October 2006, the Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) turrned the online gambling industry into turmoil. The UIGEA made it illegal for credit card companies and US banks to process any gambling related transactions outside the USA. This lead to the share crash of many big online poker sites, notably partypoker. In the panic, many sites abruptly pulled their support for USA players.
The EU have increasingly became weary of the apparent USA's sense of self importance. Their argument being that the USA have no jurisdiction within other countries.
Apathy has lead to the EU developing other trade sectors to replace the losses incurred with the ill thought out UIGEA. The compensation requested is for losses incurred by the USA's blocking of online gambling sites. One spokesperson who prefered to remain nameless claimed "The USA have no respect for civil rights, this is just another example."
Back in 2003, Antigua and Barbuda pursued a claim with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against the UIGEA. The WTO ruled in their favor that the implementation of UIGEA put the USA in violation of pre-existing trade agreements. In response to this ruling, the USA ammended their international trade commitments to exclude offshore gambling. As a result, this allows them the option to back out of any pre trade agreements.
The USA's motion to withdraw opened the floodgates to other WTO members who can still pursue compensation for the loss of the USA gambling market, estimated at $114 Billion. The majority of the claims will come from the likes of Partygaming (partypoker) and other companies registered in the European Union.
If the USA continue to ignore international law, its only a matter of time before they are dealt a similar blow to that of South Africa in the past. The world is not a colony of the USA.
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