International Pressure Could Help to Legalize Online Casino Gambling in the U.S.

I had almost completely forgotten that Nevada Represetative, Shelley Berkley had drawn up an Internet Gambling Study Act until Congressman Barney Frank recently announced a study wouldn't even be necessary considering all the hoopla going on at the World Trade Organization. Apparently, Berkley's push to get the National Academy of Sciences to undertake an in-depth study of online casino gambling in the U.S. would likely not even get the attention it needs in order to be launched until next year anyways.

And with Frank's legislation - the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act - sitting on the back burner at the moment, the question begs to be asked, "So now what?" According to Frank, the World Trade Organization is going to be putting some heavy pressure on the U.S. to pay up some hefty revenue for their decision to back out of a former WTO agreement. Ever since Antigua and Barbuda made a $3.4 billion claim, other countries have been eyeing to do the same.

Although Antigua's claim wont have a major impact on the U.S. considering that Antigua is one of the "little guys" (basically meaning, they do not have much to wield in strong arming or coercing the U.S. to pay up), other countries like Australia, Coast Rica and Macau could pose much greater threats if they too make claims which could amount to over $100 billion. If the European Union gets into it as well, which it looks like they are, the U.S. will be forced to rethink things. That is when I think Frank will move the IGREA to the front burner.

Preliminary hearings already show that online casino gambling can be safely regulated in the U.S., and that it is actually the best thing to do to keep organized crime and problem gambling off the Web. People are going to gamble online regardless and there is no governmental authority that is going to be able to successfully stop them from doing so. I personally agree with Frank and think that a large-scale study is only going to confirm what has already been confirmed. If anything, it would only delay the overturning of the UIGEA. It's the pressure for the EU and WTO that is going to do the most good at this point in time.

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