Antigua fails to impose $3-billion gambling fine on US: WTO

GENEVA – The tiny Caribbean island of Antigua failed Friday in its bid to impose $3.44 billion (€2.4 billion) in fines on the United States in an Internet gambling dispute.

The World Trade Organisation, to which the country took its complaint, instead ruled that Antigua could fine the US just $21 million because Washington had not complied with a ruling to open its borders to online gambling.

Antigua, with a population of about 70,000, is a centre for offshore Internet gaming operations and attracts large numbers of US residents to its online casino-style games and betting services.

The United States bans online gambling, but large numbers of American gamblers use websites that are largely located in offshore centres like Antigua and Gibraltar.

On Thursday, a European online gaming trade association lodged a complaint with the European Commission over the US ban.

The Remote Gambling Association accused the US Department of Justice of discriminating against its members, by enforcing the ban against foreign online gambling companies while allowing US rivals to do business.

The United States said on Monday it would widen access to some of its services to compensate the European Union, Japan and Canada in order to settle a World Trade Organisation dispute over the US ban on online gambling.

But the association said that the deal "does not address discriminatory and protectionist US practices against European and other foreign online operators in the form of selective prosecution."

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