US – Antigua Battle | IXGAMES
The United States estimates that its online gambling restrictions have only cost US$500,000 (€352,609) in annual lost revenue to Antigua and Barbuda — a figure the tiny Caribbean nation’s chief counsel flatly rejected Friday. Antigua, the smallest country to ever win a World Trade Organization case, is seeking the right to impose US$3.4 billion (€2.4 billion) in commercial sanctions against the U.S. for its failure to comply with a ruling on its online betting ban. It is confident the WTO will rule in its favor again. *That’s the typical position the U.S. has taken to Antigua in this case, but we’ve proven them wrong in every instance,” said Mark Mendel, the lawyer who masterminded the twin-island’s legal victory. “It’s completely without any basis whatsoever. We feel very confident that it will be quite easy to demonstrate that.* Washington stopped U.S. banks and credit card companies last year from processing payments to online gambling businesses outside the country. The decision closed off the most lucrative region in a market worth US$15.5 billion (€11.2 billion). About half of the world’s online gamblers are based in the United States. 
After losing the WTO case, Washington declared its intention to explicitly remove Internet gambling from its obligations under the WTO’s treaty on trade in services. Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, India, Macau, Japan and the 27-nation European Union have all joined Antigua in filing compensation claims as a result, under a procedure that is separate from the U.S.-Antigua sanctions arbitration. EU online gambling sites — which largely bankrolled Antigua’s legal efforts — have claimed the U.S. owes the European Union a jackpot of up to US$100 billion (€70 billion) in trade concessions to compensate for its illegal ban on foreign gambling companies.