WTO ruling in the USA-Antigua online gambling case: $21 million

The Word Trade Organization's decision on the Antigua internet gambling case against USA amounts to $21 million annually.

WTO ruling in the USA-Antigua online gambling case: $21 million The long-awaited ruling on the sanctions the U.S. will have to pay to Antigua in the internet gambling dispute was finally made public today. The bill - $21 million annually. This amount is considerably smaller than the requested $3.44 billion by Antigua and more than the $500,000 offered by the U.S. to settle the dispute. The $21 million a year in sanctions against the United States for shut out Antigua and Barbuda (and the rest of the world) of the U.S. online gambling market will be exercised in the form of intellectual property, such as films and music, for instance by lifting copyright protection, as well as in services, which includes sectors such as banking and telecommunications as well as gambling, said the WTO arbitrator. The office of the U.S. Trade Representative came out with the following statement: "Antigua's claim was patently excessive. The United States is pleased that the figure arrived at by the arbitrator is over 100 times lower than Antigua's claim." Neither party has the option to appeal the WTO decision.

Published on 12/21/2007