Costa Rica and US Reach Deal on Gambling Dispute

Costa Rica has reached an agreement with the United States in a dispute about online gambling, trade officials said on Thursday. As a result Costa Rica has dropped its request for arbitration at the World Trade Organisation , they said.

The dispute arose after Washington announced in May last year that it would withdraw gambling from services it had opened up under a 1994 world trade deal. Under WTO rules the United States then had to offer access in other services to any of the WTO's 151 members who wanted it.

The European Union has said it reached agreement with the United States over access to postal and courier, research and development, and storage and warehouse services in compensation. Officials said the Costa Rica deal was similar to that with the European Union. Washington has reached similar deals with Japan and Canada.

However, the European Union said on Monday it was investigating whether U.S. prosecutions of foreign online gambling companies were discriminatory. That could lead to a trade dispute at the WTO. European online gambling companies such as PartyGaming and bwin Interactive Entertainment complained in December last year that the United States had singled out foreign online gambling companies when it introduced measures to cut off their access to its gaming market. The U.S. Justice Department is still investigating the activities of EU companies before it introduced those measures. The EU companies say the United States has allowed U.S. firms offering Internet horse race betting to continue operating.

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