U.S RESTRICTION AND PROSECUTION OF EUROPEAN GAMBLING WEBSITES CONSTITUTES DISCRIMINATION.

After deliberating for an entire year on the subject, the European Commission finally decided that U.S restriction and prosecution of European gambling websites constitutes discrimination and so is against World Trade Organization guidelines. The Commission looks after the interests of the 27 European Union countries and started looking into the matter after a complaint was filed by a group calling itself the Remote Gambling Association.

The specific complaint had to do with the fact that while the U.S was commencing legal action against various European Online gambling websites, it had turned a blind eye to U.S-based companies that were doing the same thing. As a signatory of the General Agreement on Trade in Services the U.S was accused of being in breach of protecting domestic companies from competition from abroad. Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton had the following to say: "It is for the U.S. to decide how best to regulate Internet gambling in its market, but this must be done in a way that fully respects WTO obligations," she also emphasised her hope that the two parties would find a “swift, negotiated solution to this issue."