Regulatory Developments
United States
Following the ruling in the US’s ongoing World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute with Antigua and Barbuda, which held in favour of Antigua, the US elected to withdraw gambling services from its WTO free trade commitments. As a result, the US was required to agree compensation arrangements with a number of affected jurisdictions, including the European Union, which it did in December 2007. However, such compensation measures failed to redress the position for the affected gambling industry, as it merely permitted the EU greater freedoms in certain other, non-gambling, areas of US trade.
There have been suggestions that, in light of the economic downturn in the US, and the resultant loss of revenue for land-based casino operators, a form of wider liberalisation may occur in the online gambling market. However, no legislative efforts have yet been successful on this point.
In a recent development, the Commonwealth of Kentucky was successfully awarded a preliminary seizure order on 18 September 2008 by the Franklin Circuit Court in Kentucky for the seizure and forfeiture of 141 domain names that are alleged to have been used in connection with illegal gambling activity within the Commonwealth of Kentucky in violation of local state laws. No domain names owned by, or associated with Sportingbet, were among the 141 subject to the Court Order and none of the Company’s domain names are managed by a US company. The worldwide enforceability of an order made by a Kentucky court remains unclear.