|
PokerPages > Poker News > Poker News
Poker News - Poker News
Search News:
USA Decision to Remove Online Poker Online Gambling Slights WTOThu, May 10th, 2007 @ 12:00am The United States' decision to modify its original World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments to remove online gambling from its services agreement is a slight to the WTO and has "evoked a storm of outrage and concern," according to Tuesday's article from respected daily worldwide tax news service Tax-News.com. The critique comes after the US announced it decided to withdraw from one of its WTO commitments after it lost its final appeal in the drawn-out battle with Antigua and Barbuda over US discriminatory practices towards foreign online gaming firms (click here to read related article on appeal loss). In their announcement, US Trade Representative John Veroneau said, "We did not intend and do not intend to have gambling as part of our services agreement. What we are doing is just clarifying our commitments" (click here to read related article). Jeremy Hetherington-Gore of Tax-News.com explains that the WTO treaty allows a country to withdraw commitments to open its services market to foreign investors, but because the original GATS treaty was negotiated multilaterally (as with all WTO treaties) the US will now have to negotiate with any of the other 149 member countries that raises objection to the move and wants to renegotiate any of their own commitments in return.
Heatherington-Gore said. "To call this opening Pandora's box must surely be an understatement." He went on to describe reactions saying, "Adjectives used by commentators over the weekend to describe the US action included 'absurd' and 'disingenuous'. Said one anonymous spokesman: "This action is more surprising to me than had President Bush announced he was coming out of the closet today regarding his sexual preference.""
James Jochum, a former Bush administration official and partner at the law firm of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP in Washington who represents the Antigua Online Gaming Association, was quoted in the article as saying, "I am disappointed to see our country lead a degradation of the system. The implications are so serious because of the precedent it sets."
Senior officials in Antigua and Barbuda were taken aback by the decision. "While we had of course been aware of the possibility of the United States taking such an action, we frankly considered it extremely unlikely," Dr Errol Cort, Antigua's Minister for Finance and the Economy was quoted by Tax-News. "It is almost incomprehensible that the United States would take such an action in the face of an adverse dispute resolution ruling. This is going to have very severe consequences for the global free trade movement."
According to Mark Mendel, Antigua's lead counsel in the WTO proceedings, the US was wrong to say that it didn't intend to include gaming in its services commitments. "There is simply no basis for such a statement. When the schedules were drawn up over ten years ago, there was extensive debate, proposal and counterproposal from all WTO members in determining what commitments would be made."
Mendel added, "More than a dozen countries were able to expressly exclude gambling from their commitments, and many dozens more excluded the commitment in other ways. For the United States to say this was a mistake is just not true."
Tax-News expressed that for the US to take this option is nothing short of tragic at such a crucial moment in the ongoing WTO Doha Round negotiations.
"What does the USTR think will now be in the minds of its negotiating partners among the dozens of economically weak developing countries who rely on the rule of law to hold their own in the trading ring against such Titans as the United States and China?" Tax-News asks.
The European Commission's views on the US approach to online gambling is expressed in the article through recent statements made by Charlie McCreevy, European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services. McCreevy, referring to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) passed last October, said, "that the US rules against processing of international on-line gaming transactions were a prima facie case of protectionism and that the World Trade Organization was a possible venue for tackling them."
"But he said that while negotiations were continuing over the WTO's Doha Round, he would not rush to file a complaint." You may recall that the UIGEA, which included carve outs to expand certain domestic online gambling such as horse betting, fantasy sports and lotteries, also makes it illegal for financial institutions to handle transactions between presently illegal forms of online gambling and US residents. By doing so, and because of their extrapolated interpretation of the 1961 Wire Act to apply to more than sports betting over telephone lines, the US effectively bans all international and inter-state gaming on the Internet.
McCreevy told the European Parliament, "In order to protect, I'd say, their own business, their industry there, they [the United States] have de facto prevented foreigners from online betting into the United States. In my view it is probably a restrictive practice and we might take it up in another forum." But McCreevy said he had not discussed the issue in any depth with Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, who would front any EU attempt to challenge the US legislation.
In its March ruling against the US over Antigua's complaint that the US was unlawfully banning payments to offshore gaming web-sites, the World Trade Organisation Dispute Resolution Panel noted that the 2006 UIGEA legislation (which post-dated both Antigua's original complaint and the first WTO ruling in Antigua's favor) confirmed the lack of conformity of US law with its obligations under the GATS. The panel called out the prime example how the US allows domestic online horse betting but blocks it from online firms outside the US.
The WTO Panel also comprehensively dismissed all attempts by the US to wriggle out of the need to bring its laws into conformity with the GATS treaty, either by banning equivalent domestic betting transactions, or by allowing parity for overseas transactions.
Read Related Articles:
More Poker News Articles
World Series of Poker: Ante Up for Africa The Ante Up for Africa Charity Tournament is one of the biggest poker charity events of the year. This charity tournament supports the refugees from the Sudan region of Darfur. After nine hours of play, Alexander (Alex) Bolotin was crowned the champion of the Ante Up for Africa tournament and won $177,730 for his first place finish.
World Series of Poker Event 56: Matt Hawrilenko Takes Down Bracelet and $1 Million The $5,000 Six Handed No Limit Hold'em event was the last event to be held at the World Series of Poker 2009 before the famous Main Event starts. Event number 56 saw 928 players register for their chance to win the last bracelet to be offered this summer. The next bracelet of the Series will not be awarded until November when the Main Event final table wraps up. Adding to the excitement of this event, there was a total prize pool of over $4.3 million, and the winner of the event was guaranteed to come out a millionaire.
World Series of Poker Event 54: Tony Veckey Wins Event 54 sold out in a hurry as 2,818 people gobbled up all of the seats for the last low buy-in No Limit Hold''m tournament of the World Series of Poker. This was a new event added to satisfy the enormous public demand for this level of event. $1,500 from each of the entrants produced a prize pool of $3,846,570, with payouts down to 297.
World Series of Poker Event 52: German Jorg Peisert Wins Jorg Peisert from Dusseldorf, Germany won the inaugural Triple Chance No Limit Hold'em event at this year's World Series of Poker. Peisert outlasted 853 other players who put up $3000 to play in this No Limit Hold'em event. The total prize pool was $2,357,040 and 81 players took home a cut. 81st place took home $5,892, but the lion's share, $506,800, went to Peisert. On the final day, Peisert started in 6th chip position and worked his way up to a chip juggernaut, eliminating players and collecting chips along the way. Notable players who cashed in this tournament include, Eric 'Rizen' Lynch (12th), An 'The Boss' Tran, Mike 'The Mad Genius of Poker' Caro (23rd), and Antonio 'The Magician' Esfandiari (24th).
World Series of Poker Event 53: New Orleans Resident David Halpern Wins David Halpern from New Orleans, LA won the $1500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8-or Better Event at the 2009 World Series of Poker. Halpern outlasted 467 other players to win $159,048 for winning the tournament. Halpern has already cashed once this year (Pot Limit Omaha), but this is his first WSOP bracelet. The $657,455 prize pool was spread out amongst 48 players who cashed. Halpern battled William Kohler for over three hour heads-up. Battled is a strong word, as both players seemed enamored of each other and even went to dinner together during the break. They traded the chip lead back and forth until Kohler seized it for good. Other notable players who cashed includes Chad Brown (4th), Matt Savage (5th), Andy Bloch (23rd), and Norman Chad (32rd).
World Series of Poker event 49: David Bach Wins $50K HORSE Event The 2009 $50,000 HORSE event attracted 95 of the world's best poker players. The number of entrants decreased from the previous year which attracted 148 entrants. As play began, player's speculated as to the reason why the numbers decreased so dramatically. Was it the economy? Was it Scotty Nguyen's drunken tirade last year? Many believed that it was ESPN's unfortunate decision to not televise this year's final table. Even though the field decreased, the players still had a full five days of play. 87 players would be eliminated on the way to a star studded final table. After 20 hours of play, David Bach was proclaimed the winner of the 2009 $50,000 HORSE event. He took home the bracelet, the Chip Reese Memorial trophy, and the $1,276,806 first place prize.
World Series of Poker Event 55: Abe Mosseri Wins First WSOP Bracelet Abraham Mosseri from New York City won the $2,500 Deuce to Seven Lowball (Limit) event at the 2009 World Series of Poker. Mosseri outlasted 257 other players to win $165,513 and the accompanying gold bracelet. This is Mosseri's first WSOP bracelet and third cash. This was his 2nd final table of this year's Series. Mosseri and others amassed a prize pool of $593,400. Only 24 players got a piece of it though. Mosseri ended Day 1 in 13th place with 39,100 in chips. By the end of Day 2, Mosseri was the chip leader with 447,000. Mosseri maintained his chip lead through most of the day. It would come down to him and Masayoshi Tanaka, who started the day with second most chips. Tanaka had the lead as heads up began, but it was meant to be for Mosseri who played aggressively and caught cards at the right time to eventually eliminate Tanaka. Notables at today's final table included three time bracelet winner John Juanda (4th), Blair Rodman (5th) and Nam Le (9th). Daniel Negreanu cashed in 16th and Hasan Habib finished in 18th.
World Series of Poker Event 51: Carsten Joh Wins Sold Out NLHE Event Carsten Joh defeated a sellout crowd to win his first bracelet in the penultimate $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event of 2009. Joh beat Andrew Chen heads up to bring home Germany's first bracelet of the Series. The event began with a largely amateur crowd, and the big names that made it to Day 2 quickly found themselves on the sidelines. Men Nguyen, Tony Cousineau, and Matt Brady outlasted most of the field but failed to make it to Day 3.
World Series of Poker Event 50: Greg 'FBT' Mueller Wins 2nd '09 Bracelet The $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout should put to rest any questions about the skill required to play Limit. By the time the event was down to two players, it was a heads up match between the owners of the last two Limit bracelets awarded at the WSOP. Greg 'FBT' Mueller defeated Marc Naalden to win his second bracelet of the year, making him the fourth person to claim more than one in 2009. Naalden now has 1st and 2nd place finishes in Limit tournaments this year. He also cashed in a Mixed Hold'em event.
World Series of Poker Event 48: Brandon 'any2cantu' Cantu Wins After finishing runner-up at a final table a week ago, Brandon Cantu got a second chance to win a second bracelet in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Split event. This time, Cantu closed the deal in a tough heads up match with Lee Watkinson and picked up the WSOP gold. Brandon 'any2cantu', known for his creative and sometimes loose style of play, was as shocked as everyone else when he turned over Aces more than ten times on Day 2. "This is the hottest streak I've ever been on in my life," he told Phil Hellmuth, who was eliminated in 14th place. By the time the field was narrowed to 25 players, Brandon had nearly 25% of the chips in play. |
 Online Poker »
  WSOP thrills-Without going to Vegas Play in Freeplay WSOP events now!   100 WSOP Seat Giveway-on NOW! & Main Event, Event 54 satellites  Double up your 1st $50 deposit And play in the Sunday Million !  100% Sign up bonus up to $600 at Full Tilt Poker Poker News »
Blog Coverage
Top News
World Series of Poker Event 56: Matt...
World Series of Poker: Ante Up for... World Series of Poker Event 54: Tony... Top Tournaments
|
.gif&contenttype=gif "Pokervibez")
Discuss this article in our forum
Print this article
All Poker and free play poker content ©2009 Advanced Global Applications, LLC. All rights reserved.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, visit either: National Council on Problem Gambling or Gamblers Anonymous International Service