Monday, September 18, 2006

North Dakota Republican will not be lining up to support Frist online
gambling ban attempt. Not all Republicans are lining up to support U.S.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's call to ban Internet gambling. North
Dakota State Rep. Jim Kasper says: "My fellow Republicans just don't get it"
when it comes to Internet gambling, reports Internet News.com. In July, the
U.S. House of Representatives passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act of 2006, which updates the 1961 Wire Act banning sports
wagering over the telephone to include all forms of online gambling. Frist
(R-Tenn.) wants the Senate to approve the same legislation in the waning
days of the 109th Congress. Kasper calls the proposal "ridiculous." "The
people of our nation want to do what they want to do in the privacy of their
living rooms," Kasper told internetnews.com. Contrary to the intent of his
national party leaders, North Dakota will become a safe harbor for Internet
poker players worldwide if Kasper has his way. He plans to once again
introduce bills in the next session of the North Dakota legislature
legalising Internet poker for online casinos that will bring their software,
hardware and employees to North Dakota. The proposal is strictly limited to
online poker in hopes of avoiding the controversy swirling around sports
betting on the Internet. The casinos will have to use North Dakota's
state-owned bank as a measure to protect gamblers' money and safeguard
against money laundering.

Software mandates, Kasper claims, will provide age-verification protections
and allow the state to monitor for individuals exhibiting addictive
behaviour. In return for North Dakota sanctioning and regulating online
poker, casino operators will pay taxes on gross revenues that will be used
to reduce property taxes.

The federal government should "keep its nose out of it. Gambling is a
states' rights issue. Congress shouldn't be regulating it," the feisty state
politician says.

North Dakota, he said, should be allowed to tap into the "tremendous revenue
stream leaving our nation." Even under the U.S. House legislation passed
recently and now in the Senate, state-sanctioned online gambling on horse
racing and lotteries is permitted.

For Kasper, this will be his second time trying to convince his fellow North
Dakota lawmakers to see it his way. In 2005, his proposal passed in the
state house before overwhelmingly failing in the state Senate. Kasper claims
he was forced to fold his legislative hand when the U.S. Department of
Justice "unfairly" interfered in North Dakota's legislative process.

"The DoJ wrote what I call a 'poison pill' letter [to North Dakota's
attorney general]," he said. "It had misinformation about the Wire Act,
implying it applies to all Internet gambling." Kasper contests this opinion,
and observes that if the DoJ claim is true, it begs the question of why the
House felt compelled to pass legislation extending the Wire Act to Internet
gambling.

"The Wire Act was specifically written to prohibit sports wagering over the
telephone," he said.

Kasper says that even if the supporters of an online gambling ban in the USA
manage to get their measures approved in the Senate and signed off by
President Bush, he will crack open a fresh deck and still introduce his
bill.

"I believe in a court of law we'll win," he said. "People don't want the
Internet police in their living rooms."