As the row over Internet gambling between the United States and the World Trade Organization (WTO) continues, the Canadian-based Interactive Gaming Council (IGC) recently voiced its opinion about the issue. After Utah’s Attorney General sent a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative saying that he “should have done more to stop the World Trade Organization from ruling that gambling should be treated like other recreational services” and concluding that the ruling would ultimately threaten all state regulations involving gambling, the IGC expressed their agreement with Utah’s Attorney General and his colleagues from 27 other states that believe that the regulation of gambling should be left up to the individual states.

“We’d like to remind the Attorney General, however, that maintaining the U.S. tradition of letting the states, rather than the federal government, regulate gambling cuts both ways”, added Rick Smith, executive director of the IGC. “While this tradition means that Utah, for example, has the right to attempt to ban all gambling, it also means that the federal government should keep its hands off when Nevada or a U.S. territory such as the U.S. Virgin Islands tries to license and regulate online casinos, or when North Dakota tries to license and regulate online poker.”

The IGC also believes that the letter from Utah’s Attorney General ignores the fundamental concept of international trade agreements and, indeed, of fair play and the workings of the WTO, in general.

The IGC pointed out that the U.S. agreed to support the WTO and its functions and that the U.S. has benefited from the rulings of the WTO in the past. For the U.S. to try to circumvent the WTO rulings or to try to withdraw gambling from the original trade agreement is unethical and impractical. The WTO followed proper procedure when, after receiving the complaint filed by Antigua against the U.S., it deliberated the case, issued a decision, and then issued a final ruling after both sides appealed the original ruling. To ignore this entire process weakens the authority of the WTO and opens the door for other countries to be equally unaccountable when WTO rulings don’t favor their policies. “And to retroactively attempt to re-negotiate a complex treaty (GATS the General Agreement on Trade in Service) because the U.S. doesn’t like a ruling under the treaty is as impractical as it is unfair. International treaties require accountability and give and take. No country can expect to win every case.”

“The IGC was not completely satisfied with the WTO’s ruling on the Antigua complaint,” said Keith Furlong, deputy director of the IGC”. “But at least the WTO established that the GATS includes a commitment to free trade in gambling and betting services, and it further concluded that the U.S. violates GATS by permitting ‘remote betting services for horse racing’ only for domestic suppliers and not for foreign suppliers of such services.”

The IGC believes that the U.S. and the international community would be far better off if the U.S. would stop fighting the inevitability of the international online gambling industry and, instead, start working constructively on regulating online gambling just as land-based gambling is regulated.

“Progress will come when the U.S. affirms the rights of its states to regulate gambling. That means the rights of states to license and regulate Internet gambling, as well as the rights of states like Utah to attempt to ban all forms of gambling.”