EU-US anti-gambling deal

In continuation of the WTO Antigua v US dispute:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/21/business/wto.php

Have a great holiday break

Tassos

On Dec 17, 2007 3:10 PM, Tassos Kaburakis wrote:
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSBRS00025920071217?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&rpc=23&sp=true
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6223065.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071217/wr_nm/eu_usa_gambling_dc
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8TJ5BTO0.htm

interesting…
There’s obviously a lot of lobbying and negotiation going on there among the decision-makers, the industry professionals, etc but at least from where we stand as legal & policy scholars and somewhat objective thinkers, could one see the rationale behind the EU side and most importantly the justification of the US side discriminating bluntly against such providers? I believe the latter was confirmed a couple of years ago in the WTO decision siding for Antigua v the US… Oh well… signs of time I guess, and “westward concessions” of our dear Commission…

Not much time to elaborate but we perhaps should open this up re: philosophical approaches b/t the US and EU, impact on contemporary policy and legal practice, and most notably, the financial implications for each sector that would be sacrificed in each turn… Lobbying goes a long way, but it wouldn’t be far-fetched to argue that the more conservative positions in the US spilled over to the EU in this regard, with global financial ramifications for an industry that well, only rarely had been legitimized. Here’s to the Gambelli and Placanica decisions of the ECJ and more political lobbying in the future… Plus things on our US side of the pond are changing drastically, but you knew that!

There’s some comparative work b/t US and EU on sports betting, so if anyone is further interested, please advise…

Warm regards from a frozen St. Louis. Enjoy time with your loved ones this holiday season, best wishes for health, balance, and spiritual clarity

Tassos