States Vote Against WTO Gambling Backdown

Published: Friday, June 10, 2005 Online-Casinos.com

29 STATES VOTE AGAINST WTO INTERNET GAMBLING BACKDOWN

Protect our state laws from WTO interference, say AGs

The WTO dispute in which the USA is currently embroiled was centre stage again this week as Associated Press reported that 29 states are joining forces to urge the U.S. government to keep Internet gambling out of international trade agreements.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff helped coordinate the effort by states to protect their gambling laws from actions by the World Trade Organization.

Shurtleff and 28 other attorneys general released a letter this week petitioning U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman to redouble efforts to protect the legal rights of states to ban or regulate forms of gambling.

Their plea came after a conflicted ruling by a World Trade Organization appeals panel in April.

The panel ruled the United States could keep some Internet gambling restrictions to "protect public morals or maintain public order." But the same 138-page decision opened a door for Internet gambling by finding fault with a federal law regulating interstate horse racing gambling.

The panel said the United States failed to show that the Interstate Horseracing Act was applied equally to foreign and domestic remote betting services, and presented a conflict with its stand on "public morals and good order."

That left the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda claiming U.S. authorities must treat online casinos in the same way as traditional gambling outlets.

Shurtleff fears the WTO decision could erode state powers to regulate gaming.

"Antigua has no business trying to write Utah's gambling laws. The trade representative needs to know that we have too much at stake," Shurtleff said in a statement issued Tuesday.