The duplicity of the US is obvious. This articles sums it up best

They are citizens of The United States of America.

You guys are a bunch of foreigners.

Why would you expect to be treated with respect?

Do you really think they believe in mutual respect for foreigners?

arseholes the Americans are, and how very glad I am now that the EU has fined Microsoft $1.8 Billion Dollars . It is time the US realised that they do not rule the UK/Europe and should keep their noses pointed towards themselves and butt out. Of course this crap labour government of ours has allowed the US to extradite at will any of our citizens but in return the US has refused to grant the UK the same rights. That is why the US so very much likes its "special friendship" with the UK. What mugs we are !.

This is the same Internet Gambling industry that Germany has banned?

No state gambling monopolies in the EU, oh no. Apart from Germany. And France. And probably some others I don't know about now that the EU is bigger than South America.

Please, Sweden, can you ban online gambling too? Might improve my Pokerstars ROI. Always getting beaten by some ultra-aggressive Stockholm-ian :-)

No I don't expect the American government (different from the American people) to treat foreigners with respect but I would expect it to respect its side of trade agreements, which it regularly doesn't do. And that's when the trade agreements are not hopelessly biaised in favour of the US to start with. The irony in this is that such behaviour doesn't necessarilly help the US economy in the long term let alone US citizens. For more info on the subject, I suggest you read 'Making Globalization Work' by Joseph E. Stiglitz.

So I hope the EU does find enough to complain to the WTO and demand sanctions.

just gamble in their own countries and leave the rest of the world alone.

Wow, and there was me thinking it was an article about gambling, rather than another oppertunity for someone to moan about MS and Americans in general.

I have to agree that the special relationship is completely one sided and a waste of time, but its not really relevant here is it ;)

Well at least those kids who want to go around shooting class mates wont get distracted by gambling websites eh.

What a joke of a country , where a 12yrd old can walk in his school at blast countless people to death with the arsenal he's amassed, but where you cant spend your own money on a bit of online poker.

Still at least they'll all be safe when the indians rise up again.

S

S,

What liberal or uninformed bias!

No twelve year old can amass his own 'arsenal' without an adult. It requires a 'live' transaction face to face.

Online gambling on the other hand is easily done 'on the down low', allowing easy access to kids.

I don't agree with the ban, but for now providing gambling services, outside of a few zones, is illegal in the US. It's not just EU entities, nor is it extending the rights or authority of the US outside it's borders. DOJ is prosecuting those who violated US law by providing gambling services to US citizens. It's no different than going after those who sell drugs or weapons to criminals (except for the violent severity of the crime).

Mike

You can't even gamble on politicians at intrade.com :-(

You seem to be missing the point that a EU compamy providing internet gambling services is not an illegal activity in europe!!! US law does not (or should not) apply outside the US. It seems like a simple point but a very hard one for some to get into their heads.

Oliver, you've missed the red herrings, distractions and plain irrelevancies:

You will have to be shot, stuffed and displayed in a case to show the masses that intelligence and erudition are not dead (yet)...

Indeed.

<sarcasm>

The problem is, that it is very hard for DoJ to "crack" down on the bettors themselves - no one will sympathize with the Gummit when they are on the evening news carting Dear Old Grandma who went online for some Texas Hold'em after her Sunday Bridge Club. So, *obviously* the targets are the websites that run these EVIL TEMPTERS of good 'ol Granny. After all, doesn't the US control the Internet thingy anyway?

</sarcasm>

Hypocritical? Of course! After all, our country *was* founded by Christians too interested in self-repression they got kicked out of Europe. Then it was overrun by those glorious, "d*mnable" Free Thinkers that hoped to make it something great. Too bad the repressors have been pulling the strings lately. (Yes, this comment was outside the <sarcasm/> tags...)

Adults are allowed to keep them at home .A number of children have died whilst stumbling across these whilst playing (hide and seek etc)

"What liberal or uninformed bias!"

Yes, what liberal or uniformed bias ?

Perhaps you could help me understand that sentence by defining what you think "liberal" means.

Assuming you are using it as a noun, Websters thinks you mean :

1. A person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties.

2. A person who favors an economic theory of laissez-faire and self-regulating markets.

What is it that YOU think you mean ?

I'm guessing you think you mean "Some unpatriotic communist homosexual NRA refusenik who thinks it's a dumb idea to allow anyone who can spell their own name to stockpile automatic weapons and leave them where children can gain access to them." Which is quite different.

Please feel free to educate me if I'm wrong.

@ Michael J Welker Jr: Your comment that someone you disagree with is a "liberal" succinctly classifies you. This is a great time-saver, as I could fill in the rest of your comment without reading it. "Won't somebody think of the children? US government good."

It's nothing to do with the children - what bullshit. It's everything to do with taxes. The US government is the only government in the civilized world that taxes gambling winnings as income. Shoot, the country founded on a stand against taxation without representation makes a special point of taxing unrepresented foreigners. If a British Reg reader should come to Vegas and win a substantial jackpot, 30% will be withheld for Uncle Sam "just in case" it might be found that he was liable for US taxes. Now in theory, after he gets home the lucky punter can apply to the British tax collectors who, it is alleged, have a reciprocal arrangement with the IRS and will make good the deduction. Yeah, right. With compound interest for the delay, no doubt.

As bloated as the US government might be, it doesn't quite have the manpower to monitor all the credit card transactions in the world, and so lacks the power to loot winnings paid in the Isle of Man. That's the real problem.

@ Michael J Welker Jr: You read that right. I legally owned a 20-gauge shotgun and a .20 caliber pistol (and unfettered access to a .20 cal rifle, 10 and 12 gauge shotguns, high power hunting rifles, etc.) when I was 12.

I would call that an arsenal.

Sure, adults helped me purchase and get access to that arsenal, but I was no different than any other 12-year-old in my 6th grade class.

Oh yea, and I am a certified liberal (though not a Democrat).

jk

rather than 'merkin-bashing (which really deserves a comment thread of its own):

I find it interesting that the Italian government, who can tax local but not foreign gambling, are allowed to hijack DNS entries for foreign gambling sites and redirect them to their own Italian ones where the punters can be taxed to their government's heart's content.

Trust me on this, I administer DNS servers and am forced to do just this.

Where does the EU get off telling the USA how to run our country? Just because you are a bunch of Godless sodomites it doesnt mean we have to fall into that trap!

Maybe you are stupid enough to think that gambling is legitimate trade but we dont agree with that. Yes there is some gambling in the USA but we dont force the EU people to gamble here. You are free to do what you want. Internet Gambling is just a place for EU organized crime lords to rip people off.

Gambling is not a legitimate trade.

Please tell Nevada State Police...

For the record, most Americans if they knew the facts of this case and would once again be disgusted with our government. It is so easy to feel helpless and apathetic when the right wing nut jobs and the corporations they represent, control everything and can manipulate the population at will (see Cheney, Rove, Fox News, etc). Its a brave new world and everyone has to make a million and it doesnt matter who dies.

One place outside the US where US law does not apply is Guantanamo Bay.

@Oliver Magee

"You seem to be missing the point that a EU compamy providing internet gambling services is not an illegal activity in europe!!!"

Correct, an EU company providing internet gambling for EU citizens is not an illegal activity. An EU company doing business in the US however is subject to US regulations, just as a US company doing business in the EU is subject to theirs.

@TimNevins

Possibly, but then it wouldn't be the child's arsenal, nor the governments fault/responsibility, it would be the parents.

@The Other Steve

"Assuming you are using it as a noun" - Actually, if you re-read the sentence, I'm using it as an adjective.

"Of, designating, or characteristic of a political party founded on or associated with principles of social and political liberalism"

American Heritage Dictionary

Generally speaking, in the US, the liberal vision is one of big government or the "nanny state".

@PT

Actually, classifying someone's bias as liberal in today's US politics would generally put them in the category you've described.

@James Dean Kirby

Both of my children received .22 cal., single shot rifles for their eighth birthdays. Both are trained in firearm safety. And neither has access to any firearms in our home without an adult (locks are wonderful things). Neither has access to an arsenal without parental/adult involvement, which places the onus on the adults.

To save the rants, I believe in individual responsibility. I'm a strict constitutionalist, with libitarian leanings. I believe in firearm ownership for personal protection, and personal liability/responsibility for anything an individual might do to others. I believe in national rights. I don't believe the US has any rights to tell others what may be allowed or posted online, only the right to control the transactions that occur in the US (which US citizens should control/influence/complain about). I can't sell firearms to Canadians or Brits, why would they have the right to sell gambling in the US in violation of my countries laws?

Mike