Republican Jim Kasper is a different kind of politician. While his fellow party members promoted the recent ban on online casinos in the Congress and the Senate, Kasper was trying to make North Dakota a licensing agency for poker sites.
Kasper believes that by regulating the online poker industry in North Dakota, the state will be able to raise taxes for all needed public services, and the state-owned bank of North Dakota will be able to make profits by handling transactions.
Unfortunately, other republicans have made a successful job at promoting the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, and by doing so, have, basically, buried Kasper's initiative. The new act is considered public policy, and all states must comply. The model that Kasper was promoting resembles the United Kingdom's approach to online gambling, where the industry is being regulated and taxed. Kasper was hoping that by only regulating online poker, he will be able to get the needed votes.
Although the North Dakota House approved his notion, the North Dakota Senate disqualified the concept of making the game legal and to regulate it. Kasper first introduced his concept in 2005, but with the changes in Washington, Kasper does not plan to push the bill any longer. With credit card usage at the sites now illegal, the Bank of North Dakota will not support any bills promoting regulation, and Kasper's hope for a North Dakota-licensed internet gambling poker sites is gone.
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