MEDILL NEWS SERVICE
Other Countries Fight U.S. Internet Gambling Laws
By LEONADIS MCKINNEY
MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON -- If the United States government intends to quash Internet gambling, it faces a battle that is uphill at best and hopeless at worst. Of many obstacles, the thorniest is the tangled jurisdictional web created by the reach, accessibility and intangibility of the Internet.

The Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda has filed a grievance with the World Trade Organization regarding American laws that ban the transfer of funds to offshore gambling operations.

Internet gambling has played a huge role in Antigua and Barbuda's economy since the 1990s, but the number of companies operating there has declined from approximately 100 to less than 40 in recent years, a drop that local officials attribute to stricter regulation by the United States. During the industry's 1990s heyday, more than 5,000 people worked for Internet gambling companies in Antigua and Barbuda. Today, about half that many do.

On July 21, the WTO announced that it will name a three-member panel to examine the issue and determine whether the United States is violating international trade accords by preventing gambling payments from going offshore.

"We didn't look for this fight," chief Antigua and Barbuda spokesperson Ronald Sanders told reporters after the WTO announcement, "but my government is very mindful of its responsibility to our people to maintain their jobs and to defend our small and vulnerable economy."

Critics have besieged the U.S. government. Several of the more than 50 nations that have legalized Internet gambling-including Mexico, Canada, Taiwan, and the European Union-have announced their support for Antigua and Barbuda, and many stateside experts argue that the government's fight to rein in Internet gambling is doomed to fail.

"No country can prevent Internet gambling transactions from crossing its borders," wrote Mark Balestra, the editor of Interactive Gaming News. "Period."

Some state legislatures apparently agree, which only thickens the jurisdictional quagmire. On June 14, Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn signed a bill allowing Internet gambling sites to operate from Nevada. The bill essentially legalized Internet wagering in the state, and the Nevada Gaming Commission is currently investigating how to reconcile it with federal law.

Undaunted, federal lawmakers continued to encourage other nations to crack down on Internet gamblers. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., recently met with Costa Rican legislators and encouraged them to tighten their online gaming laws to combat a boom in online gambling, which now employs about 5,000 Costa Ricans.

Goodlatte later said in a statement that Congress wants Costa Rica to "increase the oversight of these offshore gambling sites, most of which are doing direct business, illegally, with people in the United States."

But many experts say Americans who want to gamble online will continue to do so-and Congress will be unable to stop them because the Internet by nature transcends geographical boundaries and renders obsolete the idea of physical jurisdiction.

"Can you put up an electronic border around your jurisdiction?" asked Sue Schneider, chairwoman of the Interactive Gaming Council. "I don't think you can."

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