A long awaited ruling by the World Trade Organization has been made regarding the online gambling dispute between the United States and the Caribbean island of Antigua & Barbuda - and it can only mean good things to come for the online gaming industry at large. Following a decision two years ago by the WTO, in which the U.S. was found to be guilty of propagating discriminatory policies against international online gambling, an appeal by the U.S. has been rejected, citing that nothing has still been done to comply with the initial ruling.

Although this is hardly a blow to the U.S. considering how small a trading partner Antigua & Barbuda is to them, the ruling certainly has opened the door for larger trading partners who have already embraced online gambling regulation (can someone say United Kingdom?). In other words, if U.S. policy discriminates against horseracing sites operated out of Antigua & Barbuda, then surely it is discriminating against international sites operating elsewhere.

The U.S. said they would clarify their position on horseracing, and that all forms of remote gambling had been prohibited throughout the States. However, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) is in obvious contradiction to these statements. With carve-outs made not only for the online horse racing sector, but for the online fantasy sports betting industry as well, the UIGEA represents the height of hypocrisy. Add to this the fact that the U.S. has done nothing to comply with the initial WTO ruling, and this recent appeals rejection is a no-brainer.

The U.S. has the option of appealing this latest ruling to the appeals body of the WTO, which despite their case having absolutely no merit whatsoever, the U.S. may end up exhausting their options to buy more time for who knows what. The Minister of Finance for Antigua, Dr. Errol Cort, praised the decision by the World Trade Organization, citing that it vindicates what he has been speaking out against for years. Dr. Cort said he is looking forward to the U.S. opening its doors to the online gaming sector in the very near future.