EC Launches Investigation

May 30, 2008

The European Commission has announced that they are launching a formal investigation into the United States� online gambling policies. They say that they have let the matter drag on longer than they would have liked to, but are now putting their foot down and going after what they feel is a clear violation of World Trade Organization practices.

They say that the US has been vague and indecisive over whether online gambling is illegal by still offering lotteries and horse racing betting over the internet � while banning online casinos. They say that these seem to be clear cut trade violations for their discrimination that they seem to be heaping on the European gaming companies.

They have wanted the WTO to do something about it but as it seems that there is no way around it, they are forced to take the drastic step of opening an investigation. According to Naotaka Matuskata, a senior advisor to Alston & Bird, LLP, they are �engaging in unfair, discriminatory, and selective prosecution of European online gaming operators," and they want to see it come to an end.

There are ways to avoid further sanctions in that the US simply has to legalize and regulate online gambling. However, many say that if the US sits by and allows further sanctions against its own people for their ignorance, they will further the downward spiral that has already started. They will further solidify the US as a country with no integrity.





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