Online Casinos May Move to Central America to Avoid American Bans

Online casinos may have found a way to get around any ambiguities left after the WTO decision. While the American government may be able to prevent Americans from playing at online casinos based in Antigua, the Central American Free Trade Agreement may prove a more formidable foe. Unlike the WTO agreement, the CAFTA agreement does not have any "public morals" clause.

The federal government is unconcerned, saying that even if online casinos move to Costa Rica or other Central American nations, states will still be able to impose their own gambling laws in order to prevent their residents from playing at online casinos. This is as a result of a grandfather clause which states that existing laws would not be displaced by CAFTA. As a result, Utah, which has no legalized gambling, will be allowed to impose the no gambling law on Utah residents, even extending to online casinos. Since most other states do not completely bar residents from gambling, moving online casinos to South America would likely prevent most states from barring online gambling.

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