US Faces $100 Billion Fine For Web Gambling Ban

Posted by Zonk on Friday October 12, 2007 @03:21AM from the just-one-more-thing-we-can't-afford dept.

Stony Stevenson writes with the news that the World Trade Organization is seeking billions of dollars in compensation from the United States from their ban on internet gambling. The view of the WTO is that the US has reneged on commitments to the organization. "The disputed concessions arise from Antigua's victory earlier this year when the WTO ruled that the US violated its treaty obligations by excluding online Antiguan gaming operators, while allowing domestic operators to offer various forms of online gaming. Instead of complying with the ruling, the Bush administration withdrew the sizeable gambling industry from its free trade commitments. As a result, all 151 WTO members are considering seeking compensation for the withdrawal equal to the size of the entire US land-based and online gaming market, estimated at nearly US$100 billion."

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In Soviet Russia... by 192939495969798999 · 2007-10-12 04:05 · Score: 0, Redundant

In Soviet Russia, gambling legalizes you!

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1. Re:In Soviet Russia... by jjohnson · 2007-10-12 05:19 · Score: 0, Redundant
  
  That wasn't just unfunny, but painfully so. Try this:
  
  Imagine a beowulf cluster of legal gambling sites!
  
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  Anyone who loves or hates any language, platform, or manufacturer, doesn't know what they're talking about.
Re:Good! by bentcd · 2007-10-12 05:13 · Score: 0, Redundant

Demanding that a country live up to the agreements it signed is not "overriding its sovereignity". Perhaps not, but demanding that it change its domestic laws certainly is.

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sigs are hazardous to your health