Prime Minister of Antigua, Gaston Browne, is currently looking to find help from other countries when it comes to the country’s battle against the United States due to iGaming rights. The battle has been ongoing for many years and over the weekend, Prime Minister Browne traveled to Venezuela to take part in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit. NAM consists of more than 100 countries and contains many states in the developing world. These states are not formally connected with a power group or against, with Browne hoping some of the countries would become allies in their WTO fight against the US.

Reportedly, Browne has urged member states of NAM to offer Antiqua active solidarity which would end the more than decade long WTO fight between the United States and Antiqua involving the right of Antiqua to access iGambling in the US, according to quotes by Brown with Caribbean360.

Back in 2003, a claim was filed by Antigua with the World Trade Organization over the refusal by America to allow online operators licensed in Antiqua to have access to the online gambling market in the US. By 2007, the World Trade Organization had given Antiqua $21 million in annual damages that the United States has yet to pay up and has racked up over $200 million in damage payments due.

Browne has described the fight as a David v. Goliath style trade war that is a test case as to whether small and micro-states have the option for justice when powerful nations refuse to cooperate. During the Summit, Browne sought out members of NAM who were also part of G20, which includes South Africa and India, to try and use their position to try and lobby for smaller nations interests, calling the smaller nations defenseless in a world where only the powerful are able to rule.

Antiqua has been given the right to royalty-free digital downloads of intellectual property of the United States including books, movies, television shows, music and the like, but the country has not acted upon this right. However, Browne is now seriously considering this action as it has been over a decade and no payment has been made by the US in the matter.