The SAFE Port Act (H.R. 4954), which includes the UIGE Act, was presented to the President for his signature on October 3. The President has now 10 days to sign the bill into law.
While in Antigua, Mark Mendel, the lawyer who represents the island at the WTO, commented “This baldly protectionist legislation, tacked on to a major security bill at the last possible minute, is as contrary to the decision of the WTO in our case as can possibly be imagined,” in Australia, the Board of International All Sports, the parent company of Canbet and IASbet, stated “The USA Government is passing laws to circumvent its commitment under the General Agreement of Trade and Services to the World Trade Organisation to allow free international trade in an effort to protect USA gaming companies that operate in the USA.”
“Expanding domestic remote gambling while at the same time further impeding our operators the right to provide these services — which the United States committed to do under the WTO agreements — is almost impossible to comprehend,” added Mendel.
“This puts the United States on a direct collision course with the WTO over free trade in services — something I am not sure that many in Congress realized when they approved this unfortunate legislation in the early morning hours,” commented Dr John Ashe, the Antigua and Barbuda Ambassador to the WTO.
In the UK, law firm Olswang released an interesting analysis: “The illegality of Internet betting and gaming in the US derives, at a Federal level, from the Wire Wager Act 1961(Wire Act). The Wire Act prohibits betting on any sporting event or contest over a \’wire communication\’ facility and so whilst sportsbook betting is expressly outlawed the legality of non-sports betting and gaming is less clear.”
“The Department of Justice maintains that the Wire Act covers all forms of gambling. However, this has not yet been determined and remains a grey area.”
As the UIGE Act does not incorporate the sections of the Leach-Goodlatte Bill which would have extended the Wire Act prohibition to all forms of gambling, the online betting and gaming industry will be prevented from operate only if financial institutions give “unlawful Internet gambling” the broad interpretation pushed by the Department of Justice.
Calculators
