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An online gambling summit being held on the Caribbean island of Antigua over the next two days looks to address how to move forward with the island nation’s long standing dispute with the US over its burgeoning i-Gaming sector. Antiguan officials are also seeking support from players in the international gaming industry in its fight.
UB.com / Absolute Poker, which was among three online poker sites indicted on April 15, is reportedly looking for assistance from the Antiguan government in an effort to continue operations in the United States, however, it is still unclear whether they will move forward with such an initiative.
Minister of Finance and the Economy Harold Lovell said on Wednesday the meeting, which started today (Wednesday April 27, 2011) at the Sandals Grande Resort, will seek consensus among global gaming industry participants on how best to utilize the World Trade Organsiation (WTO) decision to open up the American domestic remote gaming industry to fair international competition.
He said the session “marks a sincere attempt by the government of Antigua and Barbuda to reach out to the international remote gaming community to explore ways in which our country’s historic victory at the WTO can be used to open the door to fair and responsible trade in remote gaming services to consumers in the United States, as the WTO has held we are entitled to do.”
“We are hopeful that by engaging more with major industry participants outside of Antigua we might be able to bring more force to bear on what have proven to be very intractible anti-free trade interests in the remote gaming space in America,” Lovell said.
Antigua & Barbuda’s long-time legal advisor on the WTO matter, Mark Mendel noted in a statement issued by the government yesterday that “if remote gaming was ever a moral issue, those days are long gone”.
“A wealth of experience has shown that remote gaming services can be responsibly delivered and consumed in a rational regulated context. This is about free trade in legitimate services in compliance with International law,” he said.
A significant portion of the summit in Antigua will be dedicated to panels and presentations by a number of distinguished and expert panelists, including the country’s Representative to the United Nations, John Ashe; Attorney General Justin Simon; Mendel; and American gaming law expert Frank Catania.
- Gambling911.com Staff
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