The Lands of Easy Money
Charles Carreon
Let's look at the online gambling money pipeline from the other end. Let's transfer ourselves to Antigua, where back in 2003, an Internet gambling license cost $100,000 per year, and a sports book license cost $75,000 per year. I hear they have gone up. Over 100 Internet gambling establishments are licensed in Antigua, and although the island does not presently take a share of wagering revenues, it is weighing that option in order to increase cash flow from the gambling enterprises. At present, Antigua considers itself fortunate to be gaining licensing revenues, jobs, and infrastructure development in the form of a high-speed Internet system for the island and improved technological skills in the local labor force. The hotel and transportation industries also benefit. Similar benefits have caused the nearby island of Barbuda, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic to dip into this pool of capital. In 2004, Antigua and Barbuda won a WTO lawsuit against the US, when the international panel held that US laws against Internet gambling discriminate unlawfully against this export product, prejudicing the tiny nations in their battle for international capital.
Many gambling sites visited by Americans are based in Australia, a country that is protecting its own citizens from Internet gambling somewhat, while allowing it to be pursued as an “export product.” Manifesting a bit of bureaucratic schizophrenia, during 2001, Australia imposed a moratorium on Internet gambling that caused the failure of a couple of large gambling enterprises that had just bulked up on capital to enter more deeply into the Internet gambling marketplace.
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Let's look at the online gambling money pipeline from the other end. Let's transfer ourselves to Antigua, where back in 2003, an Internet gambling license cost $100,000 per year, and a sports book license cost $75,000 per year. I hear they have gone up. Over 100 Internet gambling establishments are licensed in Antigua, and although the island does not presently take a share of wagering revenues, it is weighing that option in order to increase cash flow from the gambling enterprises. At present, Antigua considers itself fortunate to be gaining licensing revenues, jobs, and infrastructure development in the form of a high-speed Internet system for the island and improved technological skills in the local labor force. The hotel and transportation industries also benefit. Similar benefits have caused the nearby island of Barbuda, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic to dip into this pool of capital. In 2004, Antigua and Barbuda won a WTO lawsuit against the US, when the international panel held that US laws against Internet gambling discriminate unlawfully against this export product, prejudicing the tiny nations in their battle for international capital.
Many gambling sites visited by Americans are based in Australia, a country that is protecting its own citizens from Internet gambling somewhat, while allowing it to be pursued as an “export product.” Manifesting a bit of bureaucratic schizophrenia, during 2001, Australia imposed a moratorium on Internet gambling that caused the failure of a couple of large gambling enterprises that had just bulked up on capital to enter more deeply into the Internet gambling marketplace.
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