/ Editor / 29 October 2007 / Leave a comment

The World Trade Organization says that the US ban on online poker violates treaty commitments.

IT is not possible to play poker for money online in the United States, the Land of The Free.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Act does not forbid online poker explicitly. But it is illegal for US banks and credit card companies to process payments on gambling businesses.

(Remember how those PartyGaming shares collapsed. As reported, "A year ago, when it was active in the US, it reported third quarter revenues of $337m. This week it said its sales were $115.7m.")

Last week poker players lobbied Washington for a change in the rules. And, as reported, they might just win.

The World Trade Organization said the US "violated its international treaty commitments". The ban breaks rules governing world trade. It was wrong of the US to censure offshore online gambling outfits without cracking down on American operators offering remote betting on horse and dog racing.

The European Union, India, Antigua and Barbuda, Japan, Costa Rica, Macao, Canada and Australia have filed for damages.

"In a matter of months, you're going to see billions of dollars in trade sanctions coming down against the United States," says former New York Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, chairman of the lobbying group Poker Players Alliance, which claims 809,000 members.

"Then, I believe we will start to have a profoundly new and different group lobbying, saying you've got to stop this prohibition [on Internet gambling]," he said. "We look like the ugly American."