The little Caribbean island of Antigua is back in the news again in highlighting its cause against US anti-gambling (read anti-competition) laws with a statement that clarifies for most of us the real issues surrounding US anti-online gambling policy.

There isn’t the space here to deal with Antigua’s statement in depth, but suffice to say they have hit the nail on the head when it comes to assessing US policy affecting online gambling – and by association, free online bingo games.

Antigua has successfully dragged US anti-online gambling policy into the WTO spotlight and exposed it for what it is – a blundering attempt to impose protectionist trade barriers. Unfortunately for the US, this is exactly what the WTO was set up to combat, and it has responded by backing Antigua’s claim of US wrongdoing.

One of the most poignant points made by Antigua is that if the US were a strong anti-gambling culture then its current stance would be understandable. But it’s not, and in fact promotes a very strong domestic gambling culture of its own. What Antigua is really highlighting here is that the US is actually anti-competition when it comes to online gambling and all its forms, such as online bingo. This is a curious stance for a nation intent on selling itself as the bastion of free enterprise and market forces.

However, though the US has decided not to appeal the WTO’s decision in favour of Antigua, it’s not quite finished yet with this issue. Stay tuned as US officials stand poised to invoke “Article 21� by pulling entirely out of the WTO agreement on gambling. This fit of pique is likely to set the cat amongst the pigeons if anything does.

Note: Online bingo players who don’t know what “Article 21� is might want to take a look at today’s news item covering Antigua’s clarification of the WTO’s ruling.

Written by John Witherspoon - Play bingo online at http://bingostreet.com/ and read bingo news.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 2:05 am and is filed under Online Bingo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.