Deadline passes for U.S. to settle online gambling dispute with Antigua
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The United States is apparently not interested in settling its dispute with Antigua regarding online gambling — at least not right now.
The U.S. had a deadline of April 1 to offer a proposal that would rectify its dispute with the Caribbean nation via the World Trade Organization. The WTO had ruled earlier that the United States was breaking trade agreements by not allowing Antigua’s online gambling and poker operations access to the U.S. market.
According to the pokerpages.com:
Neither Mark Mendel, Antigua and Barbuda’s attorney, or the local Directorate of Gaming had received any communication from US officials, the Antigua Sun newspaper reported.
The paper relayed that, “In a process that has seen many delays and missed deadlines, the apparent failure of the US to put forward a settlement proposal by the end of the month was apparently met with an air of resignation in Antigua and Barbuda, with officials continuing to adopt a “wait and see” approach to the protracted negotiations process.”
The WTO had granted Antigua a sanction of $21 million a year against the U.S., which could mean that Antigua could ignore U.S. copyright restrictions as part of that settlement.
