Two American Congressmen are warning that the United States Justice Department should drop its investigation of European online casinos. The investigation is looking into bringing charges to online casinos that violated American laws before congress signed the Online Gambling Ban in 2006.
The two Congressmen, Rep Robert Wexler and Rep Steve Cohen, have warned the US Attorney General that this investigation could stir up lots of trouble between the USA and the European Union at the World Trade Organization.
According to a letter by Rep Wexler to the US attorney General, this issue could escalate and result in the WTO taking action against the United States, because of what they are calling unfair trade practices. The Congressmen also stated in his letter that this situation would not be good for the United States.
After a move by Congress and President Bush in 2006 made it illegal for banks and financial institutions to transfer money to online gambling sites, European online casinos and gambling sites lost billions of euros.
After the United States passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006, most of Europe's publicly traded internet casinos stopped accepting bets from the USA and cancelled player accounts of everyone living in the United States. The problem is that the USA is attempting to hold the online casinos executives responsible for their activities before the bill was signed into law.
This move is what prompted the WTO to start a formal investigation into accusations that the United States was targeting European online casinos, while allowing American based online casinos to continue to operate.
The official American stance on online gambling is that it is illegal for international online casinos to do business with Americans and it is illegal for online casinos to operate from within the USA as well.
