Can the U.S. be forced to change its position over online casino gambling? The U.S. is, after all, a member of the World Trade Organization, or WTO. Earlier this year the WTO chastised the U.S. over its de facto illegalization of online gambling, finding in favor of Antigua and Barbuda that U.S. laws banning the operation of online casino servers on U.S. soil unfairly forced companies to base those servers for their online casino sites elsewhere. But still, the U.S. isn't moving on legalizing online casino gambling, and meanwhile the number of online casino sites on the internet continues to rise.
Admittedly, the U.S. has a lot more on its mind than the question of whether or not online casino businesses should be allowed to operate on U.S. soil and whether or not U.S. citizens should be able to wager their own money on casino sites which are based in Europe, Asia or elsewhere. But if the issue is approached in terms of the economic benefits, it is quite possible that U.S. authorities currently opposed to online casino operations could change their mind. It is quite obvious to anyone who pays attention to the online gambling industry that revenues are in the billions, be that currency calculated in euros, dollars or pounds.
As long as online casino operations are considered illegal by U.S. officials, the potential cash that casinos could get in on by advertising legally will sit in the pockets of Americans. Also, the taxes that could be collected by the IRS for online casino operations based on U.S. soil will also be denied to the U.S. government, which, maybe, could use those funds to finance little operations like future invasions of foreign countries posing a danger to the U.S. Sure, Americans will spend money at online casino sites, but those sites and the businesses running them will contribute to the American economy, and those who are fighting for legalizing online casino gambling in the States would do well to employ such knowledge in their fight.
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