Antigua submits new proposals to end Internet Gaming

The U.S., which has taken decisive action against offshore operators catering to Americans, was years ago found to have engaged in wrongdoing in the matter, according to World Trade Organization officials. Earlier last year, the World Trade Organization granted permission for Antigua and Barbuda to take digital content from apparently any U.S. firm, without paying them, in retaliation.

According to Intellectual Property Watch, that never went into effect. The Intellectual Property Watch report released Monday said that “during the [Aug. 29] meeting of the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body, the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, said in a statement that their ‘newly elected government has, after considerable deliberation and with a view towards a prompt and final resolution of this long-standing matter formulated yet another comprehensive and realistic proposal.’”

The statement added that the new proposal “represents a significant concession to the United States from earlier proposals" and that it “represents but the slightest fraction of the harm done to the Antiguan economy by the failure of the United States to observe its obligations […]."

The island nation has said that Americans being prohibited from playing on offshore betting sites costs it US$ 3 billion every year in economic activity. The U.S. federal government has allowed individual states to offer intrastate online gaming. Just three—Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware—have so far done so.