The Remote Gambling Association (RGA) is proud to support the International Gaming Awards on 25th January 2010 and certainly hope our members will feature among the winners at such a prestigious charitable event. As the largest trade association for the world online gambling industry we are pleased to see an awards ceremony that seeks to reward excellence in all areas of our industry.

Mark Mendel, lead attorney for Antigua, believes that, given the expansion of remote gambling in the US, with almost certainly more to come, that new claims before the World Trade Organization would result in larger settlements. Mendel is attempting to reach a long-overdue settlement with the US regarding damages to the Antiguan economy caused by the US block of online casinos.

A bill has been presented in the Lower House of the Argentinean province of Buenos Aires which would ban gambling via any remote communication method including mobile phones and the internet. The bill would require telecommunications providers to block access to sites that offer any form of gambling, and proposes a penalty on both gaming operators and network providers equal to ten to twenty times the value of all bets received from within the province of Buenos Aires.

The Remote Gambling Association (RGA) endorsed the UIGEA Clarification Act (HR 6663) and expressed strong support for its sponsors for taking positive action to clarify the law. The main purpose of the UIGEA Clarification Act is to clarify that online gambling operators who did not offer sports betting and withdrew completely from the United States market upon passage of UIGEA would avoid federal prosecution in the United States.