In 2005, the Caribbean state won the dispute against the United States regarding the “Measures Affecting the Cross-Border Supply of Gambling and Betting Services” and the United States was given until 3 April 2006 to bring its laws into compliance with the WTO ruling.
“As of today with less than two months remaining on an 11 month and two week compliance period, to our knowledge no legislation has been introduced into the Congress that would seek to bring the United States into compliance with the [WTO] recommendations. Further, your government has given no indication to Antigua and Barbuda as to how the United States intends to effect such compliance,” John Ashe, Antigua\’s Ambassador to the WTO, said in a letter to US Trade Representative Rob Portman, in response to the re-introduction of the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.
“The only legislative efforts so far, the Goodlatte Bill and the Leach Bill, are baldly contrary to the rulings and recommendations of the [WTO]. We can only assume that this legislation was neither sponsored by nor enjoys the support of the USTR and the current American administration,” Ashe added.
In the ruling issued on April 7, the WTO stated that the United States had not been able to show that US laws on horse-racing bets were applied equitably to foreign and domestic online betting companies. The ruling recommended the discrimination had to stop.
Neena Moorjani, a spokeswoman for the US Trade Representative\’s office, said, “The US is exploring a number of different avenues to clarify there is no discrimination – even outside of legislation.
“The issue is a very narrow one. … The time period for compliance has not yet expired,” she added.
In August 2005, Ms Morjani said “In order to implement the findings, all we need to do is clarify one narrow issue concerning Internet gambling on horse racing. This does not involve weakening US restrictions on Internet gambling.”
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