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EU and US reach deal on online gambling Frances Williams and Roger Blitz / FT.com | December 17, 2007 European online gaming companies were dealt a blow on Monday as the European Union agreed to a US offer to open some other services markets as compensation for closing its online gambling market to foreign operators. Shares in UK-listed PartyGaming fell by 4.1 per cent and Bwin, the Austrian operator, dropped 2.1 per cent as hopes for a tougher line from the EU in support of online gambling operators shut out of the US appeared to have been dashed. However, bwin said it believed the European Commission would continue to push for a regulated opening of the US online gambling market. “We continue to believe that it is better to regulate than to prohibit, because the reality shows that the prohibition only drives out the transparent, listed operators,” he said. “We trust the commission will continue to push further for this.” The EU said the bilateral deal with the US, signed in Geneva, would provide European companies with new trade opportunities in the US postal and courier, research and development, storage and warehouse sectors. The US had also made concessions in the testing and analysis services sector. EU officials said they could not immediately say what the deal was worth. Peter Mandelson, EU trade commissioner, said last month that he would be pressing for “substantial” compensation. European gaming companies have claimed losses of an estimated $4bn a year from the US move. The WTO ruled in that case that the US was entitled to ban all forms of internet gambling in the public interest but that it unfairly discriminated against foreign gaming companies because it allowed US operators to offer remote betting on horse and dog racing. CLICK ON THE BANNER TO
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