Offshore Internet Gambling and the World Trade Organization: Is it Criminal Behavior or a Commodity?

Abstract

Internet gambling possesses an array of attractive attributes. For one thing, there is no necessity to leave home, with the associated outlay for lodging and meals, and the expenditure for transportation costs. For another, gambling at home avoids the noise and confusion of crowded confines, the distractions of seductive servers, the windowless gaming rooms, with no wall clocks to make customers aware of the time. Internet gambling is an industry that is growing exponentially and its perception as criminal is a matter of intense debate. On the transnational scene it has emerged as a public policy issue of significant ideological interest and of massive financial importance. This paper traces the development of the WTO case and attempts at its resolution and also offers a view of what is regarded as the most sensible, and probably the inevitable path that the trajectory of Internet gambling should and will take.