By Samantha Williams
Probably one of the most controversial gaming changes that took place in the world of online gaming in recent history was the decision of the US Government to promulgate and sign into power the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act. It has become significant during the “reign” of George Bush; that this Government has completely and unilaterally made decisions based on what they feel is best for their country, without even examining what the implications these decisions would have on world trade practices.
Me-thinks that perhaps the fact that Mr. Bush was caught napping during the significant event of 9/11 might have caused such a knee jerk reaction that still has his knee jerking in nervous sympathy to this day and the terror of what could have been avoided has made him believe that he should always be on his back foot.. Now there is proof that he believes his Government can circumference the earth breaking and manipulating previously negotiated trade treaties, just like a child with an ant farm might feel, “all powerful.”
UIGEA is an example, the US Government, for whatever reason, decided to write its own law, one that was over and above that already negotiated with the World Trade Organization. This law shut down any gambling sites from any country trading with US gaming fans literally overnight. The result of this was the overnight closure, bankruptcy and retrenchment of many online gambling operations and employees throughout member countries of the World Trade Organization.
It is interesting to note that the World Trade Organization was specifically designed to promote free trade between member countries. The fact that the UIEGA was designed to specifically create a situation of discretionary protectionism and discrimination for the US Government in terms of gambling monies (which we all know to be a huge money generating process), seems to me, to be almost as cheeky as the US occupation of Iraq. However, whether the implications of this are greater or lesser remains to be seen.
What could possibly be the justification for a member state of the World Trade Organization to make a unilateral withdrawal of treaty obligations in terms of gambling! The only justification to my way of thinking is they don’t want to share the wealth generated from this hugely growing industry with the rest of the world; however, they really want the rest of the world to share their wealth with the US.
In my book this smacks of gross unfairness, and we in the online gambling industry know that fairness is tantamount to success. The member countries who have been affected financially by the UIEGA know that they have a right to compensation from the US Government for their loss in gambling income by the promulgation of this unreasonable act, but yet, the All Powerful US is managing to gain stay the WTO to continue the legal proceedings at the pace that the US dictates.
The stance that the US has taken on member countries of the WTO participating fairly in the gambling industry of the US is almost indicative of a form of withdrawal of support for one particular industry, there are no political or ethical reasons for this, and I believe that because this is such a hugely expanding industry, the only motivation was pure and absolute greed.
