Another delay in US-Antigua settlement over Internet gambling

Finance Minister Errol Cort told the Antigua Sun that both sides will continue the discussions in the hope of coming to an agreement, and that both parties have agreed to a further extension of their talks to July 11th.

Cort said: “There are still a number of areas that we need to finalize, but in the view of the parties, we are making good progress and we just need some more time to see how we could finalize certain key areas and issues." He added: “The extension, just like the last one, is not an extremely long one because we want to keep parties actively engaged at the table, utilizing all efforts to resolve the issues and arrive at an amicable settlement.”

"If we can arrive at some amicable settlement, then it would bring to an end all of the proceedings and settle the entire matter… It's a tall order. I don't want to give the impression that it's a simple and straightforward matter,” Cort added.

In 2006, the United States Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), barring banks and credit card companies from processing payments to online gambling businesses outside the country.

That regulation effectively blocks Antigua’s access to the US gambling market, the most lucrative in the world. Antigua accuses the US of crippling its gambling industry by banning Americans from placing online bets with gambling operators.