IGC Approves UK Online Gambling Bill
Published: Friday, April 15, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
IGC APPROVES UK GAMBLING BILL
Demonstrates how the US is out of step
with much of the world, says trade association.
Two developments last
week demonstrate how the United States is out of step with much of the world when
it comes to handling the challenges posed by online gambling, the Interactive
Gaming Council said in a press release following the successful passage of the
UK Gambling Bill.
One was the passage of the United Kingdom gambling
reform legislation and the other was the final decision of the World Trade Organisation
regarding Antigua’s complaint that the U.S. prohibition of Internet gambling
violates U.S. commitments under the GATS, the General Agreement on Trade in Services.
The reform of the UK’s antiquated collection of gambling laws includes
provisions for licensing and regulating remote (interactive) gambling to include
Internet casinos, sportsbooks, betting exchanges and poker. The law creates a
powerful new Gambling Commission that will have the authority to ensure that licensed
remote gambling businesses are operated fairly. The Commission will also ensure
that criminal activity such as money laundering is prevented and that players
are protected by harm minimization measures, not the least of which are blocking
minors from gambling at these sites and mitigating problem gambling.
“This
long-awaited reform in the UK is a huge step forward for the cause of regulated
remote gambling,” said Rick Smith, executive director of the IGC. “Finally
a first world government, one that has successfully regulated terrestrial gambling
for years, is taking responsibility for the regulation of this rapidly growing
form of gambling. Rather than fighting it, as is the U.S. approach, or pretending
it will go away, the British are stepping up to the challenge of regulation.”
The second new development is the WTO decision, which followed an appeal of
a ruling by a WTO panel in November 2004. The final decision affirms the key point
of the earlier WTO ruling that the U.S. commitment to free trade under the GATS
includes a commitment for gambling and betting services. The WTO also indicates
that federal laws such as the Wire Act – an anti-gambling law enacted long
before the Internet – may be legitimately claimed by the U.S. as “necessary
to protect public morals or maintain public order.” Under the GATS, a country
can exempt itself from a free trade commitment if it can prove that its laws serve
such a purpose.
But the WTO adds that because of the Interstate Horseracing
Act, the U.S. does not consistently apply its prohibitions against “remote
betting services for horse racing.” Foreign and domestic suppliers of these
services are treated differently, the ruling says, and that violates the GATS.
An amendment passed in 2000 to the Interstate Horseracing Act permits interactive
wagering on horse races. Although the U.S. Department of Justice disagrees with
that interpretation, U.S. companies today offer interactive wagering on horse
races.
“Although it obviously is concerned with the question of equal
treatment of foreign and domestic betting services, the WTO’s focus on the
Interstate Horseracing Act is a reminder of how the U.S. treats interactive wagering
on horse races differently from interactive wagering on casino games,” said
Keith Furlong, deputy director of the IGC. “Our organisation believes that
the Internet is simply another means of delivering the gambling product. If a
country legalizes and regulates a type of gambling in the real world, it should
legalise and regulate the same type of gambling when delivered via an alternative
medium.
“It’s hard to predict what changes the U.S. will make
to conform with its GATS obligations, or whether it will risk flouting the WTO
by ignoring a ruling that it doesn’t like. But this ruling helps to make
the case for regulated interactive gambling in the U.S. by putting pressure on
policy makers to reconsider their inconsistent, ill-advised approaches.
“Meanwhile,
the UK will be setting an example of how this industry can be properly regulated
so that consumers can be protected and society’s interests can be served.
Our members want to be licensed, regulated and taxed just as the mainstream gambling
industry is in most countries.”
