The stalemate between U.S. and a Caribbean island paradise over online gambling is to continue.

Antigua and Barbuda is claiming compensation for damage to its economy caused by America’s 2006 ban on internet gambling, but the latest deadline for agreement — July 11 — has come and gone without agreement.

Now Antigua finance minister Errol Cort says that after a visit by a top-level Washington delegation the deadline has been put back for at least another THREE MONTHS to decide if a deal is possible at all.

Last year the World Trade Organization ruled in FAVOUR of Antigua and Barbuda which said the gambling ban had crushed its economy and BACKED £10 million worth of retaliatory sanctions against Washington.

Antigua and Barbuda had been asking for £1.7 billion compensation from the U.S. EVERY YEAR.

In a bid to side-step the controversy, America pulled internet gambling from its WTO commitments, but that only opened it up to compensation claims from other countries where internet casinos are based — and legal — including the UK.

Abandoned
Meanwhile Antigua and Barbuda used the U.S. pull-out to launch ANOTHER £1.7 billion claim for lost earnings.

Early attempts to get the two nations around a table at the WTO were abandoned after both agreed to settle the dispute on their own.

Next month, a top-level EU delegation is due in Washington to press for a lifting of the US internet casino ban.