EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER
EXPANDS ON HIS VIEWS ON U.S. ANTI-ONLINE GAMBLING ACTIVITY (Update)
"In order to protect, I'd say,
their own business, their industry there, they have de facto prevented
foreigners from online betting into the United States,'' McCreevy
said at the European Parliament in Brussels. To journalists afterward
he labeled it ``a protectionist measure.''
The Bloombergs business news service expanded on earlier Reuters
reports (see previous InfoPowa bulletin) that European Community
officials may be unhappy with the manner in which the United States
has targeted online gambling for Department of Justice enforcement
actions. In an earlier report, EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie
McCreevy told the European Parliament."In my view it is probably
a restrictive practice and we might take it up in another fora,"
The U.S. is discriminating against foreign gambling companies by
banning payments to betting Web sites, said Charlie McCreevy, commissioner
for the European Union's internal market.
McCreevy told a panel of lawmakers that the EU should complain to
the U.S. over the Oct. 13 bar to online gaming. McCreevy, who doesn't
have authority over external trade, said he'll ask his staff to
raise the issue with his colleague in charge of trade, Peter Mandelson.
"In order to protect, I'd say, their own business, their industry
there, they have de facto prevented foreigners from online betting
into the United States,'' McCreevy said at the European Parliament
in Brussels. To journalists afterward he labeled it ``a protectionist
measure.''
The legislation seeks to close the business to people in the U.S.,
representing half of the world's Internet gaming market. Its backers
argued that a past ban on online gaming in the U.S. had just pushed
the business offshore.
A spokesman for the U.S. in Brussels declined to comment, saying
it was premature to respond to remarks by a commissioner where no
action has been taken.
Bloomberg reported that to crimp the flow of funds to betting sites,
Congress passed the bill Sept. 30 to bar cash processing companies
from processing payments to such businesses. Bush signed the measure
into law on Oct. 13.
Online gaming shares plunged and companies including Sportingbet
Plc, Leisure & Gaming Plc, PartyGaming Plc and Empire Online
Ltd. ceased U.S. operations or sold them for nominal amounts.
"It is probably a restrictive practice and we might take it
up in another forum,'' McCreevy said at the EU Parliament's Economic
and Monetary Affairs Committee.
Asked by journalists afterward if that referred to a World Trade
Organisation complaint, McCreevy said, ``The WTO talks have enough
to be going on with at the present time without adding this in.
It's not something that has major momentum.''
The U.S. is contesting a WTO decision from 2004, based on a complaint
brought by Antigua and Barbuda, that the ban on Internet gaming
is illegal.
The real sting in the tail of the Bloomberg report was a general
comment that: "A group representing U.S. casino operators such
as Harrah's Entertainment Inc. and MGM Mirage has pushed Congress
to fund a study of whether online gambling could be regulated, as
a possible way to get into the business themselves." That sentence
will resonate with many online gambling observers and operators
who believe that US action against online gambling is aimed at ultimately
securing the $6 billion US market for established US land gambling
companies.
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"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how
close they were to success when they gave up"
