US faces US$100 billion fine for web gaming ban

[mrogowski 5,000+ posts]

Some of you might find this interesting, at least from an on-line gaming perspective:

A Brussels think-tank has accused the US government of reneging on commitments made to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over internet gaming.

Panellists at a trade forum levelled harsh criticism at the US, focusing on a burgeoning trade clash between the US and Europe over internet gaming.

The forum believes that the US could be liable for up to US$100 billion in trade concessions to European industries after placing illegal discriminatory trade restrictions on European gaming operators.

The disputed concessions arise from Antigua's victory earlier this year when the WTO ruled that the US violated its treaty obligations by excluding online Antiguan gaming operators, while allowing domestic operators to offer various forms of online gaming.

Instead of complying with the ruling, the Bush administration withdrew the sizeable gambling industry from its free trade commitments.

As a result, all 151 WTO members are considering seeking compensation for the withdrawal equal to the size of the entire US land-based and online gaming market, estimated at nearly US$100 billion.

The European Union, along with India and five other countries, has filed notice that it intends to seek compensation.

"The US decision is a major threat to a rules-based international trading system," said Nao Matsukata, former director of policy planning for the Office of the US Trade Representative.

"If more countries follow the US lead and do the same thing, the entire WTO system could implode and that would be extremely dangerous for US economic interests and for free trade generally.

"Part of what makes the US such a formidable opponent in international negotiations is its credibility. That credibility is now at stake for the US government not just in the trade area but in foreign relations generally."

Lode Van Den Hende, a trade lawyer at Herbert Smith in Brussels, criticised the US for prosecuting foreign online gaming companies while letting domestic online gaming interests operate with impunity.

"This is absolute discrimination against foreign operators that the WTO has found to be illegal," he said.

"It is exactly the kind of practice that the WTO was set up to eliminate, and now the US is violating this very basic principle that it fought hard to put in place at the inception of the organisation."

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[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

You can still do this but you have to send a check overseas. I was going to try it once, but it is a lot of trouble.

 

[dragnix 5,000+ posts]

wait what, Bush messed up again? Not possible

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

who ****ing cares.

its our counrty. if we want to ban other countries bullshit from our country. tell the to make us stop.

im stick and tired of other countries whining and crying saying that they legally deserve this and that. if they want to play world of warcraft on american servers, then ****ing deal with it. they dont have anything we want. so why do we care.

i dont understand. world economy bla bla bla. if other countries stopped trading with the US then they would be fucked anyway. not like we would be the only ones tha would be upset - but who would they sell to? the billions of poor people in china?

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

This is about warcraft?

I thought this was about something else.

See, tradesports is illegal here in the US but you can do it overseas.

There is a place where you can essentially gamble on the outcome of various events. It is setup like an investment account. However, it is illegal in the US. I was hoping this was a proxy for legalization of that account.

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

This is about warcraft?
I thought this was about something else.

See, tradesports is illegal here in the US but you can do it overseas.

There is a place where you can essentially gamble on the outcome of various events. It is setup like an investment account. However, it is illegal in the US. I was hoping this was a proxy for legalization of that account.

are american indians running that too ? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[mrogowski 5,000+ posts]

It does seem to be a screwed up rule that has been applied. But it comes as no surprise - the US government has done this a number of times when WTO rules against them.

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

It does seem to be a screwed up rule that has been applied. But it comes as no surprise - the US government has done this a number of times when WTO rules against them.

and you wonder why other countries hate us so much //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

imperialism at its best! long live brittan! ....uh, i mean USA! ..... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

 

[mrogowski 5,000+ posts]

and you wonder why other countries hate us so much //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

imperialism at its best! long live brittan! ....uh, i mean USA! ..... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

What the heck are the other countries going to say/do if the largest economy in the world says no to something?

Probably a lot of //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crying.gif.ec0ebefe590df0251476573bc49e46d8.gif

 

[mokedaddy 5,000+ posts]

The US will never be able to stop online gaming in this country. It has been proven time and time again.

 

[JCivicHb 10+ year member]

who ****ing cares.
its our counrty. if we want to ban other countries bullshit from our country. tell the to make us stop.

im stick and tired of other countries whining and crying saying that they legally deserve this and that. if they want to play world of warcraft on american servers, then ****ing deal with it. they dont have anything we want. so why do we care.

i dont understand. world economy bla bla bla. if other countries stopped trading with the US then they would be fucked anyway. not like we would be the only ones tha would be upset - but who would they sell to? the billions of poor people in china?

those are some extremely ignorant comments........

 

[Mr Cabinetry 10+ year member]

What i find extremely ignorant is anytime the sh!t hits the fan in the world, floods, earthquakes, racial genocide, ethnic cleansing, dictator flips out or whatever they expect the US to come a runnin to save the day.

The US is not the world police, welfare meal ticket or whatever the world thinks were supposed to be. The US gives millions and billions of dollars away every year to countries so they won't fall into the hands of the " corrupt evil people ".

GOD forbid the losers in Washington can't get their collective sh!t together to scrape together the bucks so they can expand child health care to folks that can't afford.

Sh!t, every politician in Washington gets FREE HEALTH CARE, yeah, ya know who's paying for that don't ya:verymad: Oh, lest we forget the fat fr!ggin pensions they get after they leave office paid for by the good folks of the US.

OH SH!T, I forgot, they also will collect social security, though it may not be around for the good folks that paid into, you can bet your azz they'll manage somehow to get their benefits.

And what I totally find extremely ignorant is the people in this country that vote for the same lame azzholes that do nothing for the people but help themselves to everything at the expense of the very people that don't give a sh!t because they all think and believe nothing will change.

Well, ya get what ya get and ya got what!!!!!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif