Last week Antigua’s Finance Minister Dr. Errol Cort met with United States Trade Relations representatives to discuss compensation due to Antigua because the United States withdrew online poker and internet gambling from the GATS treaty.

The Antigua Sun reported that the meeting did not have result in what Cort would like to see done so Antigua has decided to wait and restart negotiations with the new administration that President Barack Obama will be bringing into the White House.

At last week’s meeting the Bush administration did not reach a settlement for the US$21 million annual settlement awarded to Antigua by the World Trade Organization last year for the loss of gambling revenues. Cort commented that during the meeting several different topics were discussed that would be compensation for the loss of revenue but none of the methods discussed would create enough to supplement what had been lost.

Antigua and Barbuda has over one hundred sites that are housed in the area so online gaming is a large if not the biggest part of Antigua and Barbuda’s revenue. Cort told the Antigua Sun: "Within the whole area of trade, the types of concessions that have been discussed were in respect of compensation, that is, concessions relating to duty-free access on postal services or warehousing and the like; things that clearly, we feel we would not be able to benefit from in any direct or tangible way."

It will be interesting to see what President Obama administration will decide. If significant changes are made in the United States in the area of online gambling then Antigua may be able to reenter the United States.


- 2009-01-26