EC again urges US to Drop Gambling Ban

In a report released this week, the European Commission reiterated its stance that the US should open up its online gambling market.

Ever since the Bush administration slipped the UIGEA through Congress attached to the the Safe Ports Act of 2006, the EU has voiced its disapproval at the approach taken by US lawmakers to online gambling. This disapproval was formalized in March this year with release of a draft report into US gambling law...a report that has now been finalized.

The report maintains current US laws are in contravention of free trade obligations and that if they remained unchanged, the EU would bring the issue before the World Trade Organization.

The report also recognizes that a negotiated outcome would be better for both the EU and US. And this could involve the Obama Administration pushing Barney Frank's proposed online gambling legislation through Congress sooner rather than later. Frank's new laws provide for a regulatory and licensing framework for US and offshore based operators.

Frank weighed in on the EC report, saying:

"This report particularly shows the inconsistency of the Bush Administration... which frequently argued we had to abide by the WTO even when it cost Americans jobs, but ignored the WTO when it didn't fit the conservatives' ideological beliefs."

Its an interesting time for online gambling in the US. While the EC continues to exert pressure and moves are afoot internally to repeal the existing UIGEA, the US Justice Department has continued to push its hard line stance, freezing the online accounts of 27,000 US poker players.