A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON INTERNET GAMBLING

16 November 2007

US politicians have hopefully taken onboard a better view of a popular pastime


Good to their word (see previous InfoPowa reports) Antiguan politicians used a Caribbean business conference this week to provide their US colleagues with a more positive perspective on Internet gambling and the hypocrisy of American laws seeking to disrupt the popular pastime.

Weekend meetings were organised between a team led by the Antigua prime minister Baldwin Spencer and members of the U.S. Congress in the hope that it would help resolve the ongoing World Trade Organisation trade battle between the two nations.

Spencer discussed the dispute with New York Democrat Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and three other members of the Congressional Black Caucus on the sidelines of the regional business conference.

Antigua accuses the U.S. of crippling its gaming industry through hypocritical laws such as UIGEA which allow US horseracing, lottery and fantasy sport betting via the Internet, but prohibit financial transactions with online gambling companies.

"We're hoping that coming out of this dialogue here, Charlie Rangel would have a better and greater appreciation of Antigua and Barbuda's position," Spencer said.

The Antiguan government had also planned to invite the US lawmakers on a tour of the Caribbean nation's Financial Services Regulatory Commission and some Internet gaming companies, but it is not known if this took place. Finance Minister Dr. Errol Cort had hoped to demonstrate to the American visitors that Antigua has the will and the capacity to adequately regulate online gaming operations."

Congressman Rangel, who oversees tax legislation as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said he worries Washington may have overstepped its authority in the long-running dispute.

"I think my country is wrong in trying to change the rules of the WTO," Rangel told local Caribbean reporters. "Your great nation and ours will have to negotiate those differences in terms of equity and fairness."

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