Britain is poised to legalize and regulate Internet gambling, a bid for part of a $7.5 billion industry that is believed likely to anger American counterparts who have been fighting online gambling for several years.
A reported 20 million Americans bet online each year, even though online gambling remains illegal in the United States, a position that unnerves a number of foreign countries.
Published reports this week indicated that the U.S. may not be the only nation concerned about the apparent British move: Some European countries feature casinos run by or tied to their governments, and money going to cyberspace would take revenues away from those casinos.
The U.S. has maintained that online casinos also prove safe havens for money laundering as often as not, but pro-legalization advocates say that’s a main point behind legalizing e-gambling: It would give governments a better lookout for illegal activities if they can regulate and tax online casinos.
The U.S. and Europe aren’t the only world regions beginning to deal with the question in earnest. Over the weekend, South Korean police caught a reported 13,000 people and detained seven who used online gambling sites regularly, including a diplomat and a university professor who were said to have gambled a combined 56 million won (about $56,000) through a combined 504 credit card transactions.
Early in April, an appellate panel of the World Trade Organization said the U.S. could maintain some limits on online gambling, which reversed most of an earlier ruling that the U.S. violated international agreements with the restrictions. But the same ruling held that the U.S. limits discriminated against foreign operators.
Antigua and Barbuda had pushed to get the U.S. limits eased off, arguing the limits hurt the twin-island nation’s economy, while U.S. trade representative Peter Allgeier said the ruling was a win for the U.S. because it recognized that WTO member countries have a right to make their own gambling regulations.
“We are pleased that the appellate body has agreed with our position that the U.S. gambling laws at issue here protect public order and public morals,'' Allgeier was quoted as saying about the April 6 ruling. “U.S. restrictions on Internet gambling can be maintained. This report essentially says that if we clarify U.S. Internet gambling restrictions in certain ways, we'll be fine.”
