Kasper And Dakota Online Poker Licensing

Published: Monday, July 17, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

NEVER SAY DIE KASPER TRYING TO RESURRECT DAKOTA ONLINE POKER LICENSING

Fargo state Representative Jim Kasper could be frustrated by moves to ban online gambling

Associated Press reported this week that the efforts of North Dakota Rep. Jim Kasper to introduce legislation aiming to legitimise online poker in the state could fall foul of the recent federal attempts to ban this form of entertainment across the nation.

If Bill HR 4411, the " Internet Gambling Prohibition Act 2006" is approved by the Senate, Kasper's attempts to legalise the game in North Dakota could be prejudiced by provisions which hamper financial transfers.

Kasper said he has not reviewed the legislation, and he was therefore unsure of its implications for his North Dakota poker licensing bill, but that he is reluctant to abandon the concept.

"I don't want to give it up, because there's too much money for the people of North Dakota, and there's too many good things that can happen if we become the first state that regulates the Internet poker business," Kasper said. "But I've got to interpret what this bill does ... Maybe there are too many restrictions in it. I don't know."

During the 2005 Legislature, Kasper sponsored a bill and a North Dakota constitutional amendment to allow North Dakota to license and regulate Internet poker sites, many of which are based in several countries. Both proposals squeezed through the North Dakota House, but failed in the Senate. Both measures got only three Senate votes in favour, and one of the "yes" votes, Sen. Jack Traynor, R-Devils Lake, is not seeking re-election.

Kasper believes North Dakota could reap considerable revenues from poker site licensing, and from using the state-owned Bank of North Dakota to process the sites' financial transactions. Under the Fargo Republican's proposed legislation, most of the poker licensing revenue would be set aside to finance local property tax cuts.

The federal legislation exempts horse racing and state-run lotteries from Internet gambling restrictions, and would allow Internet gambling operations that are contained only within a single state. The intrastate exemption would be meaningless in North Dakota, which is not a large enough market to sustain a lucrative Internet poker business.

Kasper says that any new poker legislation he offers in the 2007 Legislature will have stronger provisions to ensure that underage gamblers would not be allowed to play, and safeguards would be included to stop players from gambling away too much money.