I want you to read this short bio and have a think about the individual it describes: "President Asset Management Group, Inc. Employee Benefits & Financial Planning Company. BS North Dakota State University. Graduate Bismarck State College. US Army Reserve - 6 years. Former chairman District 46 Republican Party. Former chairman Fargo Area Republican Party. President F-M Life Underwriters Association. Co-founder Valley Christian Leadership Association. ND Life Underwriter of the Year Award recipient. F-M Life Underwriter of the Year Award. 28-year member and honor roll of Million Dollar Round Table. Who's Who in American Politics. F-M Chamber of Commerce. NDSU Teammakers. F-M and ND Life Underwriters Association. Bethel Evangelical Free Church. Oxbow Country Club. Married. 2 children. Wife's name Sandy. House since 2001."

Sounds rather conservative, does it not? Several Christian organizations, married, two kids and a wife named Sandy. One would expect a toothy grin with Republican helmet hair. This is the very essence of what American values is considered to represent. This is the type of individual that the House of Representatives was thinking of when they wrote the American Values Act.

Only, this man couldn't agree less with the idea of an internet gambling ban. In fact, he wants online poker legalized and regulated in his state. Know who he is yet? Yes, you have it right, it's our favorite pro-internet gambling politician, Jim Kasper from North Dakota. He's like online gambling's good witch of the north from The Wizard of Oz (which would make Jim Kyl the wicked witch from the east – the one under the house when Dorothy first lands in Oz).

Internetnews.com interviewed North Dakota State Rep. Jim Kasper this past week where he tells them "My fellow Republicans just don't get it" in regards to the importance of internet gambling.

I think Kasper is a Libertarian at heart (although that could be simply because I'm a Libertarian and would like a "brother in arms") because he is such a strong supporter of individual's liberties. "The people of our nation want to do what they want to do in the privacy of their living rooms." Why is it, that he's the only state Representative which seems to see things this way?

In July the House of Representatives voted for anti-internet gambling legislation. Now Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist from Tennessee wants to include that legislation in a Defense Department authorization bill and have it approved by the Senate before the end of the 109th Congress session. If this happens it will be the end of Kasper's dream.

Kasper wants North Dakota to be a safe harbor for online poker players. He's repeatedly introduced various forms of bills to his legislature in previous attempts to legalize and regulate internet poker playing in his state. He's failed every time, but that doesn't mean he's given up. Instead he plans on trying to introduce bills in which will legalize internet poker for online casinos that will bring their software, hardware and employees to North Dakota.

Kasper doesn't want online sports betting, or online casinos, just poker. He hopes by focusing on a skill game that he will avoid any and all controversy regarding sports betting and the 1961 Wire Act.

The 1961 Wire Act is a federal law prohibiting bets being placed via phone. The current controversy regarding this law is the fact that the internet was created after the law was written. There is also a debate on whether the law covers only sports betting, or all internet gambling as the Justice Department wishes it did.

If you look at what Kasper wants, it's really quite a clever money maker for his state. As part of the regulation to make internet gambling legal in his state, he wants the online poker rooms to use North Dakota's state-owned bank as a measure to protect gamblers' money and safeguard against money laundering. Think about the added revenue this could bring to the state in terms of jobs and taxes.

Now consider the other requirement, which the casino operators will pay taxes on gross revenues. Read that last two words again – gross revenues. Online gambling is a 13 billion dollar industry and paying taxes on gross revenues would bring in bags of cash for the state of North Dakota. Kasper wants this money to reduce property taxes. If this passes he'll have enough to eliminate property taxes and have all the kids in state go to university for free.

To avoid problems regarding age verification, Kasper has a software solution which will allow the state to verify the individuals age and monitor for players exhibiting addictive behavior.

"[The casinos] will be able to do business worldwide except where it is expressly prohibited," he said. "These are computer-based companies that provide an Internet service."

I love Kasper's view regarding who should be regulating internet gambling. In his opinion the federal government, "keep its nose out of it. Gambling is a states' rights issue. Congress shouldn't be regulating it." His logic is fairly sound, as all he wants is for North Dakota to be able to grab a bit of the ""tremendous revenue stream leaving our nation."

As I mentioned earlier, this isn't the first time Kasper has tried to convince his fellow North Dakota lawmakers to see things his way. Last year his proposal passed in the state house, but failed in the senate. It's Kasper's opinion that the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) stepped in without just cause to kill his bill.

"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."

If the Wire Act meant all internet gambling, then why would Congress be compelled to write and attempt to pass any anti-internet gambling legislation? "The Wire Act was specifically written to prohibit sports wagering over the telephone," he said.

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

Posted on: September 19, 2006

Add This Gambling Article To:
Del.icio.us	Digg	Google	Spurl
Furl	Simpy	Y! MyWeb

Back to September 2006's archive
Back to latest Articles