Negotiations Begin Between US and EU Over Online Gambling Ban
Posted on: July 17th, 2009 8:02 am | By: Ricky BauerJoke: The United States government is so bloated and regulation happy. Audience Response: How bloated and regulation happy is it? Punchline:It’s so regulation happy that Europeans are saying that the United States government is bloated and regulation happy. So much so that the European Union is threatening to file a case with the World Trade Organization over the US government’s ban on online gambling.
The European Commission released the “Trade Barrier Regulation Report”, detailing the negative effects the US online gambling ban has had on European gambling firms. The EU’s announcement of intentions to bring a case to the WTO (which could result in billions of dollars in compensation to the EU) immediately prompted a face to face. EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton met with US Trade Representative Ron Kirk met to discuss various trade issues, among them, the US stance on online gambling. “Today was not a day to resolve any problems, but rather to set out the approach we are going to take, who would do what, and to agree to keep in touch,” said Ashton
Both the US and EU are planning further talks in September, each aiming for a “creative solution.” The US is eager to avoid further WTO disputes as a previous hearing resulted in a $21 million payment to Antigua. One issue that will likely have a profound on discussions is Congressman Barney Frank’s legislation aimed at undoing the UIGEA bill.
Since a potential multi-billion dollar judgement is composed of our hard-earned tax dollars, perhaps the federal government should worry less about protecting Americans from gambling problems they might develop and worry more about the over-regulation problem that it actually has? Just a thought.
Tags: Barney Frank, European Union, Federal Government, General Agreement on Trade in Services, online casinos, online gambling, UIEGA, Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, World Trade Organization, WTO
