Antigua Blasts US Law

As reported by Reuters: "Antigua on Friday blasted the United States over what the tiny Caribbean island state said were moves to ensure it could not build up its fragile economy through revenues from Internet gambling services.

"Criticising proposed U.S. laws to outlaw the $12 billion online gambling industry, Antiguan ambassador to the World Trade Organization John Ashe suggested Washington felt it could act with impunity because his country did not have the economic weight to retaliate.

"'We believe the time has come for the United States to demonstrate ... whether the WTO agreements are to work for us all equally, or whether the WTO is indeed a 'one-way street' for the large economies to further enrich themselves at the expense of lesser ones,' Ashe told diplomats at a session of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB).

"Antigua, which has a population of 67,000 with few natural resources and a declining tourist industry, has since the late 1990s sought to build up an Internet gambling industry to provide work for its young people.

"…U.S. officials say they are working to make clear that domestic gambling operations in the country are subject to exactly the same rules as foreign ones, and that there is no discrimination against Antigua…"