US confirms loss in WTO internet gambling trade case

[dhayman]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070126/...bling_wto_dc_2

OK guys, what does this all mean ? I find the article a bit nebulous.....

[mojo]

Thanks for posting it. I read it a few times and it's still not any clearer to me. What I got was that regardless of what the WTO says, it has other avenues to continue on the current path and attack funding methods. I'm no political anyalist though. I hope other countries join in the battle.

[big fish]

i will take any good news i can get at this point. something is something right...

[vinism]

It's too early to tell how good the news is. There's a good chance that we won't know anything definitive until March -- when the public report is released. To me, the key to the story is the quote from Hamel:

"The panel report clarifies that compliance does not necessarily require new legislation, but could instead involve other steps, such as administrative or judicial action," she said.

If that is indeed the case, it's hard to see how things will or can change substantially. But that's about as far as I'm willing to stretch any speculation. We'll just have to wait and see. I sure hope it is something good...

Fingers crossed,

Vin

[Anthony]

Anything that brings this issue out in the open is good for us.

We have the majority of people not wanting prohibition. There are millions of Americans that gamble online. If 25% of us contacted congress this law would be dead. But for some reason, we as gamblers and webmasters can't get together in large numbers.

APCW has had conversations with several congressmen; and we are working on some political alliances, but we have no political weight as an industry. We don't have the numbers. Who will stand up and say something? The casinos/sportbooks will not help lobby, they are too scared. So are we going to sit back and let the WTO fight our fight for us, which has been going on for years?

Party Poker alone had millions of US players. Party Poker contacted all their US players and put a link to the Poker Players Alliance on their front page, telling them to join to protect their right to play. The Poker Players Alliance has only 150,000 members. Now maybe it was the fact they charge $20 and people didn't want to part with money. This lack of support is why poker couldn't get an exemption.

APCW has thousands of people watch our weekly webcast and had over 50,000 watch our political videos, but only 400 are members.
I know we can make a difference if we fight for our freedoms. If we had the numbers we can effect change.

JOIN THE FIGHT to save online gambling. JOIN FOR FREE.
We can bitch about Pinnacle and Neteller, or come together and do something. If we can get numbers together we will change this law.

The Association of Players, Casinos, and Webmasters - APCW.org

[Ziggy]

The issue is a touchy one for the Bush administration, which supports free trade but whose conservative allies in Congress pushed through a bill late last year to ban most forms of Internet gambling.

What the article doesn't mention is that Bush's "conservative allies" who pushed this through last October are no longer there anymore - most of them lost their Repulican re-elections!

I cannot see referring to the Democrats as Bush's allies in any shape or form at this point on any issue.

[matted]

The text states the action doesn't need to be legislative... So the Dems have nothing to do with this. I hope the action is to stop the DOJ from arresting/harassing/threatening foreign citizens and corporations who are acting legally in their jurisdiction.

[Ziggy]

True, but I find it difficult to believe that the current U.S. congress is going to continue this witch hunt by the DoJ; especially when, if, HOPEFULLY, foreign countries start using the tools they have: trade, etc.

We are a debtor nation - that puts us in a various precarious position to countries we owe money too that finance our trillion dollar deficit.

My hope, is that this is silence before the storm.

[dhayman]

True, but I find it difficult to believe that the current U.S. congress is going to continue this witch hunt by the DoJ

The problem is that the DOJ is part of the Executive Branch, and is outside the jurisdiction of Congress. Bush, and the executive branch, are the only ones that can call off the hounds.