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European country members will now be allowed to trade in the U.S. postal, courier, research and development areas, as well as storage and warehouse sectors. The U.S. has also made concessions in the testing and analysis sectors.
Although both sides in the dispute have signed agreements, the Commission said that it would continue to press the U.S. for a non-discriminatory policy towards Internet gambling.
Publicly traded Internet gambling companies such as Party Gaming and BWIN had hoped the EU would have fought harder to restore their ability to operate in the world’s largest market instead of coming to this type of agreement.
The deal will provide for a better competition on the mail delivery systems provided by companies such as the German firm DHL. The overall valuation of the trade package is believed to be much lower than the expected $100 billion claims that have been talked about.
Peter Power, spokesman for the EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said, “While the U.S. is free to decide how to best respond to legitimate public policy concerns regarding Internet gambling, discrimination against EU or other foreign companies should be avoided.”
Not sure if anyone has posted this info on CAP, but this is major news and a major blow to the industry.
Bad, bad news !
Antigua will no longer have the crutch of EU, and they will get screwed as well.
Expect the IMega lawsuit to fall in its face as well, as a ripple effect of this decision.
The remnants of this industry will soon be gone. Expect UIGEA to get implemented shortly.
Well, it’s not so much bad news for the industry as it is for the American people. EU said a long time ago that it will take this road, rather than chasing opening of the online gambling market, so this news is no surprise – it was known months ago how E.U. would react. Plus, this is not WTO decision, just EU. Antigua still stays, as well as Asia, if they want a piece of the action.
And it’s bad for the American people, because now thanks to stupid stubbornness – more competition has been brought into the country. Now industries completely unrelated to online gambling will suffer the consequenses of the Bush Administration. And let’s not forget that WTO rulled a long time ago that banning online gambling in the U.S. and yet llowing local operators goes against the free trade, which did not stop the UIGEA from being passed. And when the Frank’s bill (or similar) passes in an year or so – US will have online gambling and still suffer from this agreement with the EU.
More info from the AP, this time the statement from Gretchen Hamel on the deal…
A spokeswoman for the US Trade Representative’s office (USTR) confirmed an earlier report from a European official, and noted that Japan and Canada were also included in the agreement settling the World Trade Organization complaint.
“The agreement involves commitments to maintain our liberalized markets for warehousing services, technical testing services, research and development services and postal services relating to outbound international letters,” said Gretchen Hamel, the USTR spokeswoman, in a statement.
“These commitments meet our WTO obligation … to make a compensatory adjustment in our WTO services commitments.”
Hamel said the deal allows for a 45-day period “in which the remaining claimants have a right to request arbitration. We will continue to discuss this matter with the other claimants to explain how our proposal is consistent with our WTO obligations.”
The statement made no specific reference to Antigua and Barbuda, the small Caribbean state that is home to many online betting operations and which challenged the US ban at the Geneva-based WTO.
“Expect UIGEA to get implemented shortly.”
I thought it was already implemented?
@CGW 148372 wrote:
“The agreement involves commitments to maintain our liberalized markets for warehousing services, technical testing services, research and development services and postal services…”
…then…
“These commitments meet our WTO obligation … to make a compensatory adjustment in our WTO services commitments.”
Seems like a catch-22. They are agreeing to open up all these other markets… except online gambling… as compensation for not openning up online gambling?
Are they not creating even bigger, more solid grounds for Antigua to go after them in a WTO fair trade dispute over web gambling?
I hope theres a lot more to this we dont understand yet as it sems like they agreed for some peanut shells on this one.
@Integrity 148392 wrote:
Seems like a catch-22. They are agreeing to open up all these other markets… except online gambling… as compensation for not openning up online gambling?
Are they not creating even bigger, more solid grounds for Antigua to go after them in a WTO fair trade dispute over web gambling?
What I want to know is why on earth these weren’t open in the first place? I’ve always been under the impression that the US prides itself in being a free market economy.
@allfreechips 148395 wrote:
I hope theres a lot more to this we dont understand yet as it sems like they agreed for some peanut shells on this one.
I agree. It’s like someone breaks into your house and nicks all your posessions. You call the police, they track down the stuff and then give it all to your neighbour because they reckon he needs it more than you do :sarcasm:
Hi all,
any thoughts on how this effects us as portal owners located in the states?
I think its still a free speech issue and haven’t seen anyone prosecuted but I want to be the front of the line to make arrangements to get out of the line of fire should it become necessary.
appreciate your thoughts.
The good side of this deal, and there are a few good sides which CGW will be analyzing over the next week, is that the mainstream media is picking up on the news big time. This is one of the best coverage pieces this industry has seen and most of it is in the light of how the EU got shafted and the big bad US has ‘won again’.
The Antigua conclusion could prove to be even more interesting.
@Simmo! 148416 wrote:
I agree. It’s like someone breaks into your house and nicks all your posessions. You call the police, they track down the stuff and then give it all to your neighbour because they reckon he needs it more than you do :sarcasm:
:thumbsup:
As usual, Bush Administration arrogance plays a factor in this decision. Sounds like there will be much more on this, before anything gets etched in stone:
@Poker Dude 148517 wrote:
As usual, Bush Administration arrogance plays a factor in this decision.
“Just one more year… just one more year… just one more year…”
Nope, it doesn’t matter how many times I tell myself that… it still sucks. This president and his co-conspirators need to go NOW. And when I say “now”, I mean approximately 7 years ago. :flush:
Hope Remains for the US Gambling Industry
Factors to Consider: The regulations implementing the UIGEA have still not been completed.
Antigua and Barbuda will get a compensation deal much different than the EU-US deal.
Bills for legalization of online gambling still exist in the House at the moment.
Not mentioned in the article was the fact that the deal still may have to be approved by the Congress.
