Time to Fold
Wall Street Journal Europe
April 10, 2008
A trans-Atlantic spat over online gambling may help rewrite the rules of the game for Internet commerce across borders. For a change, the Europeans stand on the side of free trade, while America dabbles in regulatory overreach.
The European Union last month launched an internal probe into whether the U.S. Justice Department selectively enforces its antigambling laws against European online firms that offer wagers on sports events. Brussels is making a narrow legal point that Washington discriminates against Europeans by simultaneously permitting U.S. Internet horse betting. That's against World Trade Organization rules, and the case may end up there.
The U.S. last year lost a similar WTO online gambling case against Antigua and Barbuda. The island nation argued that U.S. online gambling rules violated Washington's GATT commitments to open its market in "recreational, cultural and sporting services." The U.S. countered that its policies were justified to protect public morals and public order, a legitimate exception under WTO rules. But the WTO panel ruled that America wasn't applying its restrictions equally to foreigners and domestic operators. U.S. online horse-betting sites aren't banned.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120779121832703691.html
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