"In order to protect, I'd say, their own business, their industry there, they have de facto prevented foreigners from online betting into the United States", McCreevy said at the European Parliament in Brussels. To journalists afterward he labeled it "a protectionist measure".

The Bloombergs business news service expanded on earlier Reuters reports (see previous InfoPowa bulletin) that European Community officials may be unhappy with the manner in which the United States has targeted online gambling for Department of Justice enforcement actions. In an earlier report, EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy told the European Parliament."In my view it is probably a restrictive practice and we might take it up in another fora".

The U.S. is discriminating against foreign gambling companies by banning payments to betting Web sites, said Charlie McCreevy, commissioner for the European Union's internal market.

McCreevy told a panel of lawmakers that the EU should complain to the U.S. over the Oct. 13 bar to online gaming. McCreevy, who doesn't have authority over external trade, said he'll ask his staff to raise the issue with his colleague in charge of trade, Peter Mandelson.

The legislation seeks to close the business to people in the U.S., representing half of the world's Internet gaming market. Its backers argued that a past ban on online gaming in the U.S. had just pushed the business offshore.

A spokesman for the U.S. in Brussels declined to comment, saying it was premature to respond to remarks by a commissioner where no action has been taken.

Bloomberg reported that to crimp the flow of funds to betting sites, Congress passed the bill Sept. 30 to bar cash processing companies from processing payments to such businesses. Bush signed the measure into law on Oct. 13.

Online gaming shares plunged and companies including Sportingbet Plc, Leisure & Gaming Plc, PartyGaming Plc and Empire Online Ltd. ceased U.S. operations or sold them for nominal amounts.

"It is probably a restrictive practice and we might take it up in another forum", McCreevy said at the EU Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.

Asked by journalists afterward if that referred to a World Trade Organisation complaint, McCreevy said, "The WTO talks have enough to be going on with at the present time without adding this in. It's not something that has major momentum".

The U.S. is contesting a WTO decision from 2004, based on a complaint brought by Antigua and Barbuda, that the ban on Internet gaming is illegal.

The real sting in the tail of the Bloomberg report was a general comment that: "A group representing U.S. casino operators such as Harrah's Entertainment Inc. and MGM Mirage has pushed Congress to fund a study of whether online gambling could be regulated, as a possible way to get into the business themselves." That sentence will resonate with many online gambling observers and operators who believe that US action against online gambling is aimed at ultimately securing the $6 billion US market for established US land gambling companies.