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Even in a small, laid back place like Montana there are poker rooms where you can go to play in return for the house taking a rake, he points out. On America’s Indian reserves, which operate in some regards like miniature sovereign states, gambling is allowed. You can buy a lottery ticket over the internet in Nevada - America's mid-west playground where, in fact, just about anything goes.

Meanwhile, the US Army operates casinos on its bases abroad - reserving the right to do so even where local laws prevent gambling. This is despite evidence suggesting that personnel couped up on military bases are up to three times as likely to develop serious gambling problems as civilians. John Kindt, a professor of business and legal policy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, last year said the slot and video poker machines offered at military bases "are known as the crack cocaine of gambling, creating new addicted gamblers".

It has also been suggested that banning online gambling will open it to organised criminals. Six alleged members of the New York-based Gambino crime family last month pleaded guilty to a $650million (£345m) internet and telephone fraud racket. Other supporters of online gambling point to cases such as that of Susumu Kajiyama, the so-called "Emperor of Loan Sharks", who was arrested and charged with organised crimes involving several leading Las Vegas casinos. The case focussed on how Kajiyama maintained accounts with Caesars Palace's foreign agent in Tokyo, exploiting a system that bridges national frontiers.

Mr Mendel concedes that many of his arguments resort to the claim that each form of gambling – conventional or online – is as bad as the other. "If it's raised as being possible through the internet - under-age gambling, money laundering, you name it - we've already got it in spades," he says.

"The US sees evils in its own industry but is prepared to accept them. What basis has it got to stop us?"

People close to the case suggest that there are three reasons why the United States is resisting internet gaming. First are the interests of the established sports and gaming industries – the source of that first letter to Mr Cohen.

Second, there is the "moral fervour" issue - the argument that online gaming poses an increased threat.

Third, there is the political aspect. If Antigua wins the case, the United States trade representative – probably Mr Zoellick’s successor – will have to enforce the ruling and pull the country's legislation into conformity. Internet gambling is not issue that most congressmen, who work hard to present themselves as wholesome family men, want to be associated with.

Meanwhile, the resources behind that anti-online lobby are formidable. Internet search engines, including Google and Yahoo, have been ordered to block Antiguan gambling sites by the US Justice Department. The same body has forced major financial institutions including Citibank, Chase Manhattan and Bank of America, and media companies including Infinity Broadcasting, Clear Channel Communications and Bravo, to turn away business from gambling corporations.

Given the odds, vested interests and legal resources stacked against it, Antigua surprised many by winning the original WTO judgement. The question now being raised is just what sort of a threat the island hopes to pose against the mighty US if the appeal goes its way?

"OK, so meaningful economic sanctions might not seem realistic, but at the end of the day we cannot allow conclusary statements by US officials to formulate international law," says Mr Mendel.

"At the same time, the US is a massive net beneficiary of the WTO and the way that it operates. Does it want to risk bringing down the whole structure?"

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