The European Union (EU) declared that the American legislation on online games and the arrest of the leader of the European gaming company are illegal and blocked the laws of the European World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The EU has reached this conclusion after a year of investigation following the filing of a complaint by the Remote Gambling Association (RGA). The RGA was founded in 2005 and is situated in London, this association gather the biggest European gaming companies (see below). This one noted that the companies were continuing their activity on online gambling in spite of the public prohibition of gambling in the USA. The RGA reproached the USA for their discriminatory treatment of companies related to games.

Since 2006 online gaming is under the blow of the law Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), prohibiting online gambling by various processes.

It was the chef of PartyGaming Anurag Dikshit, who was condemned to a fine of 300 million Dollars. But there are many other examples of arrests related to the practice of online gaming. The European Commission has also found out, that European companies having stopped their activity in the united states are still prosecuted, like Party Gaming or 888 for example.

Lady Ashton, the European trade commissioner said: The United States have to decide which is the best way to regulate the online games within their own market, but this must be done in order to respect entirely the WTO obligations. I hope we will find a solution quickly and negotiated with this situation.

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The RGA gather the following companies:
Barcrest, JAXX, PKR, BellFruit, Extrabet, PartyGaming, Bet 365, Ladbrokes, Skybet, Betfair, Sportingbet, Blue Square, Littlewoods, Stan James, CryptoLogic, Microgaming, Stanley, Cashcade, Eurogaming, Talarius, Chartwell Games, Paddy Power, Totesport, 888, Playtech, UNIBET, William Hill, Virgin Games, Victor Chandler