Though the ruling is still private, Reuters
has reported that the WTO has found the US guilty of not complying
with a 2005 order in the case.
Antigua and Barbuda has built up a significant
internet gambling industry to replace falling tourist revenue and
took the US to the WTO over entry to the US gaming market.
Laws passed previously banned non-US companies
from operating in the US gaming market. Antigua argued that this
was an illegal trade restriction and broke a free trade pact that
the US had signed.
A WTO dispute resolution panel found in
Antigua's favour in 2003. The US appealed but the Appeals Board
found largely for Antigua in 2005. The WTO has now found that the
US has not tried hard enough to stick to that decision.
Antigua had taken a case relating to a ban on
all bets placed across state lines. The WTO, though, only ruled in
its favour in relation to the narrower issue of horse race betting
across state lines. It found that foreign bookmakers seemed to
suffer discrimination.
The WTO has provided both sides with a
preliminary report on its findings. Both parties can submit further
comments to it before a final report is published in March.
A spokesperson for the US Trade Representative
told Reuters that the ruling was only a minor issue. "[We] did not
agree with the United States that we had taken the necessary steps
to comply" with that ruling, she said. "The panel's findings issued
today involve a narrow issue of federal law."
Since the disputed laws were passed in the US
further, more stringent anti-online gambling legislation has been
passed. Last autumn the US passed laws which made almost all
internet gambling illegal in the US and several online gambling
executives have been held by US authorities.
The US has the opportunity to appeal the
latest ruling after it is published in March.
