Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society Founder at UK Seminar on Effects of UIGEA

Harvard Law School Professor Charles Nesson will speak on the implications for free trade and Internet freedom of the United States' ban on online gambling and online poker, at a seminar sponsored by the Institute of Economic Affairs, on Tuesday, February 12, in London.

Professor Nesson, a tenured faculty member at Harvard for more than three decades and the founder of the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS), will be joined at the seminar by Dr. Sallie James, a Policy Analyst at the Centre for Trade Policy Studies and the Cato Institute, and Lode Van Den Hende, a Senior Associate of Herbert Smith LLP, based in Brussels, specializing in E.U. competition and regulation. The seminar will be chaired by John Blundell, the Director General and Ralph Harris Fellow of the IEA.

The Seminar, "The Bush Administration's Criminalization of Online Gaming and the Implication for Global Free Trade," will be open to the media and to take place at 6:30 pm in The Arthur Seldon Room, at 2 Lord North Street, Westminster, SW1. RSVP to IEA Reception by emailing iea@iea.org.uk.

One of the oldest and preeminent British think-tanks advocating Free Trade and classical Liberal policies, the IEA has a longstanding interest in government policy towards online gaming.

The ongoing World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute between the U.S., the E.U. and several nations has taken a new turn following a Trade Barrier Regulation complaint filed against the U.S. by the Remote Gambling Association, Europe's leading trade association of online gaming operators.

The European Commission has until February 29 to respond to the complaint, which alleges that the U.S. protects domestic online operators while prohibiting non-U.S. operators.

Professor Nesson said, "The conflict between the U.S. government and the online community over online poker and other forms of betting will not go away. There is growing concern about its impact on global trade, domestic U.S. law, and Internet freedom and regulation."

Among the topics seminar speakers will address are:

- The complaint filed by the Remote Gambling Association in December 2007 with the European Commission against the U.S. for discrimination based on violations of W.T.O. rules, asserting that the U.S. Department of Justice is in violation of international law by threatening and pressing criminal prosecutions and other actions against foreign online gaming operators while allowing domestic U.S. gaming operators to flourish.

- The implications for the global trade system, should an affirmative finding for Europe be produced by February 29, 2008 deadline.

- The potential for Costa Rica's January 28, 2008 filing for WTO arbitration against the U.S. to upset the agreement between in U.S. and the E.U. (Antigua has already filed for arbitration)

More information on the seminar can be found at http://www.gpsts.org or http://www.iea.org.uk.

About GPSTS

Founded by Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson, the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society views pokers as a game of skill that can be used as a teaching tool at all levels of academia and in secondary education. The concept is to use poker to teach basic life skills, strategic thinking, geopolitical analysis, risk assessment, and money management. The goal is to create an open online curriculum centered on poker that will draw the brightest minds together, both within and outside of the conventional university setting, to promote open education and Internet democracy.

About Charles Nesson

Charles Nesson is the William F. Weld Professor of Law, Harvard Law School and Founder and Co-Director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. He is joined on the GPSTS board by Stanford Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig, who is the author of Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace and a previous Berkman Professor of Law.

About IEA

The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

Read Related Articles: