Could There Be Light At The End Of The U.S. Ban

It has been reported that talks between Washington and two UK online gaming companies, PartyGaming and Sportingbet have broken down. The talks with the EU attorneys have been taking place in Brussels over compensation for losses suffered by the British and European companies due to the United States ban for online gambling last year.

To these companies Americans were their biggest market and with the ban they suffered severe loss in profits. They also saw a loss of billions in share prices after the ban went into effect.

Before the talks broke down there was talk of a different kind of deal rather than a dollar settlement, one in which the United States would open other areas in its service industry to European firms, insurance would be one such area. A deal such as this could cost the United States billions of dollars, and one option to avoid this is to allow companies like PartyGaming and Sportingbet to operate in the United States market under some type of licensing.

While this might sound like a fantasy, there have been senators and congressmen in Washington working on such a bill to regulate online gambling; one of these congressmen is Barney Frank, though this may be a long process.

A New York public affairs consultant, Jonathan Cohen working for the EU said the United States has allowed online sports league and racecourse online betting but then banned other online services provided by European firms and to quote him it is "wildly inconsistent."

In a statement from Clive Hawkswood, who is the CEO of the Remote Gambling Association; the United States used unjustified means to bar EU online operators and if there were licensing in place it would attract many other EU operators to this market. Instead the United States with its measures to protect Americans made these companies, their profits and the industry suffer.