$21 million per annum already given may be increased according to judicial representatives' indications

According to Antigua’s legal council, Mark Mendel, in an interview in the Antigua Sun this week, The World Trade Organization’s gambling issue quarrel with Antigua and Barbuda may evolve into a more expensive one for the US than it is at the moment.

This smart advocate, who has counseled Antigua’s success during the complex court case for a number of years, has made it known that the World Trade Organization’s mediator’s decision to restrict Antigua and Barbuda’s claim vis–a–vis the US to the sum of twenty one million dollars might possibly not be the last word.

Mendel claimed, on a visit to Antigua, that a procedure is in existence by which the mediator’s resolution form December 2007 could be re–discussed. Mendel further disclosed, that although there is no instant appealing procedure for resolutions such as these, the decision was considered so unfair that Barbuda and Antigua are possibly able to bring the issue in front of the WTO’s General Council. 

Three point four billion dollars was the sum that Antigua and Barbuda hoped to get in compensation from the United States, however, the mediating board restricted that demand for losses associated with wagers on Internet horse racing – a very small part of the general online gaming sphere and expenses of the American ban on the two countries.

Mendel said that the move to the WTO’s General Council is an unprecedented move and he claimed, that they appear to be the vanguard in Geneva due to the fact that all that’s occurring is quite new.

In addition, Mendel further stated that it’s possible to carry out and he’s learned from other groups in Geneva that there’s a lot of dissatisfaction with the December’s financial resolution. He said that many countries are of his opinion, namely, that the decision was bad and should be followed up.

Mendel, nevertheless, warned that to date no one has decided, as the authorities go on with a further set of talks with the Office of the US Trade Representative and is getting read for even higher profile meetings next month in Washington.

Furthermore, Mendel claimed that an honest and respectable negotiated resolution with the US is still the best award and could avert procrastinated and additional expenses on legality issues.

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