Friday, February 02, 2007

US restrictions on online gambling may be challenged by the European Union,
the bloc's top financial regulator said today. The legality of Internet
gambling in the United States was ambiguous for many years, but it was
effectively banned last October when US President George W. Bush signed
legislation outlawing financial transactions for gaming. Several British
online gambling firms were forced out of the US market as a result. "In my
view it is probably a restrictive practice and we might take it up in
another fora," EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy told the
European Parliament. The United States was protecting its own gambling
industry by stopping foreign companies from entering the online betting
sector, Mr McCreevy said. "It's not my intention to bring forward a
harmonised piece of legislation on gambling in the European Union," McCreevy
added. US pressure on the industry continues. The US Justice Department last
week demanded information from some of the world's biggest investment banks
as part of the probe into online gambling companies such as Britain's
PartyGaming. The move was the latest in a US crackdown on online gaming,
which began with the arrest of BETonSPORTS' Scottish Chief Executive David
Carruthers in Texas last July.
Mr McCreevy later told reporters the US rules were a "prima facie" case of
protectionism and that the World Trade Organisation was a possible venue for
tackling them. However, due to the WTO's protracted negotiations to secure a
new world trade agreement, he would not rush to file a complaint. "It's not
something of major momentum," Mr McCreevy said. There have been no
face-to-face talks about the issue with Peter Mandelson, the EU trade
commissioner, Mr McCreevy said. Mr McCreevy has launched legal actions
against several EU countries to tackle obstacles to foreign competition.