Antigua And US Hold E-Gaming Talks

by Leroy Baker, Tax-News.com, New York

23 January 2008

Antigua and Barbuda's Finance Minister, Errol Cort is hopeful that last week's talks with the US government will lead to a resolution of a long-standing dispute that has blocked the jurisdiction's e-gaming operators from operating in the United States.

Speaking after his meeting with US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, Cort acknowledged that a final agreement is still probably a long way off, and that last Thursday's discussions were "first and foremost about establishing lines of communication".

"This initial round of discussions, while comprehensive, was intended to examine the universe of possible solutions to our mutual WTO dispute," he was quoted as observing by Caribbean Net News.

Cort reiterated that Antigua and Barbuda was determined to reach "an amicable settlement to this dispute", despite gaining approval from the World Trade Organisation last month to impose sanctions on the US by, for instance, disregarding intellectual property rules under TRIPS in order to sell US-generated content such as films and music on the open market.

However, the WTO ruled that Antigua and Barbuda could impose only USD21 million in annual trade sanctions - a far less potent weapon than the USD3.4 billion originally called for by the Caribbean government - and Cort is seemingly aware that the only way to settle the crippling dispute is through direct appeals to Washington, which has casually disregarded and sidestepped previous WTO rulings on the issue.

It is said that America accounts for some 80% of the global e-gaming market, and according to the Antiguan government, income has fallen to USD130 million a year, from USD1 billion among the jurisdiction's online casinos in 2000. With an estimated 537 gambling websites based in Antigua last year, the Caribbean jurisdiction is considered to be one of the largest offshore gaming domiciles.

Meanwhile, the ruling by the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body remains in place until the US comes into conformity with the WTO's previous ruling, or until there is a mutually agreed settlement.

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