Antigua Expects a Big Windfall

Antigua and Barbuda General attorney Mark Mendel ahead of the ruling told Reuters We feel pretty confident about our case, to be honest. We really feel like we have the upper hand here.

In 2005 the World Trade Organization ruled that only US based companies could provide online horse racing gambling services. This Antigua say discriminates heavily against them. The US argue that as a result of this loss of earnings they should be entitled to a mere $500,000.

Antigua came to rely heavily on its income from gambling after their tourist industry started flagging. They are now asking the US for permission to have other trade bans removed. For instance theyd like to have copyright protection from US music and films taken away to be able to sell to this market as well as to other areas of the world.

This in fact is what they are asking of the US in the ruling, in the form of a cross retaliation of $3.44 billion.

Mendel said: I think we provided plenty of proof to justify our figure ... We feel pretty confident it should be a high number, I think theres no doubt that were going to get the ability to cross-retaliate.

Since the enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act the US have made it illegal for financial institutions to pay money into gambling sites.

Bush further stoked the fire by backing out of World Trade gaming agreements he had committed to in 1994. This has so angered the European countries that have been locked out of the lucrative US gambling market, that they have urged the EU to go for a staggering $100 billion in compensation.

The outcome of Antiguas case is a key one, not only for the huge amount of money at stake, but also could shape the Americans future gambling laws in relation to the rest of the world.