Statement

The Antigua and Barbuda Online Gaming Association, or "AOGA," was formed almost a decade ago by a small group of early Internet gaming pioneers who came to Antigua and Barbuda in the mid-1990’s, attracted by Antigua and Barbuda’s low-taxation and its commitment to the licensing, regulation and support of the budding new industry. The AOGA is a voluntary trade group, which meets periodically to consider issues of common interest to the remote gaming industry in Antigua and Barbuda and to liaise with the government on regulatory matters and other issues critical to the industry and the government.

Membership in the AOGA is encouraged by the government, but currently remains voluntary. Over the years, the core of the AOGA has been a small group of long-term operators with track records of proven commitment to the country and to the remote gaming industry. It was as a result of strong lobbying of the AOGA that the Antiguan government vigorously pursued its rights under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (the "GATS") of the World Trade Organisation with respect to the free trade in the cross border provision of gaming services in late 2002.

In a remarkable demonstration of the best in governmental-industry cooperation, the AOGA and the government forged a partnership to take on the United States prohibition on cross-border provision of remote gaming services at the WTO, alleging that the US actions were in violation of its international free trade commitments under the GATS. This culminated in a landmark 2004 ruling by a WTO panel holding that the United States prohibition on the provision of these services to consumers in America from Antigua and Barbuda violated the commitments of the United States under the GATS. The decision, which took both gaming interests and trade experts by surprise, was upheld following an appeal by the United States in the spring of 2005. Efforts of the United States to dodge the impact of the ruling were dealt another blow in March 2007, when another panel of the WTO charged with assessing whether the United States had complied with the adverse ruling against it ruled unequivocally that the United States had not complied with the ruling, and leaving no room for doubt that the United States maintains a stark double-standard when it comes to gaming services accessible to its consumers.

Continuing its close relationship with the Antiguan and Barbudan government, the AOGA remains instrumental in fighting for responsible access to American consumers by Antiguan and Barbudan remote gaming service providers. Among other things, the AOGA is currently spearheading efforts to explain Antigua and Barbuda’s position to key decision-makers in Washington, D.C. Few in the United States seem to realise that the Antigua and Barbuda/United States gaming dispute is a critical free-trade issue that must be dealt with by the United States in a fair and reasonable manner if the objectives and claims of the United States before the WTO are themselves to be respected. Further, even fewer seem to be aware that the Antigua and Barbuda government and the AOGA are willing to work on a cooperative basis with the United States government to ensure the delivery of safe, transparent and reasonable remote gaming services to American consumers.

In fact, it remains the position of the Antigua and Barbuda’s government—with the full support of the AOGA—that the solution to this nagging trade dispute with the United States lies in a negotiated settlement that would allow a limited number of carefully-monitored Antiguan and Barbudan service providers to offer services to United States consumers under some form of jointly regulated or supervised program that would address all of the concerns that the United States has raised in the context of the remote provision of gaming services—such as money laundering, participation by organised crime, gambling by minors and problem gambling. Both the AOGA and the government of Antigua and Barbuda realise—after more than ten years of the provision of regulated services from Antigua and Barbuda—that these potential problems can be successfully dealt with in the remote context to where they become significantly less problematic than they are in today’s massive land-based gaming industry in the United States.

The AOGA looks forward to another decade of responsible gaming from Antigua and Barbuda and will continue to be a vocal and global advocate for fair trade in these highly-demanded services.