Kasper gives up on online poker in North Dakota?

[whangarei]

ND gives up on online poker? (http://www.pokerpages.com/poker-news/news/legal-online-poker-for-north-dakota-folds-29352.htm)

The title of this article says that Rep. Kasper is giving up on his plan for regulated online poker in North Dakota. But there is no quote from Kasper confirming this, just quotes from those opposed to the plan.

[ QUOTE ]
"The new federal law makes the bill clearly illegal," said North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, who is a director of the Bank of North Dakota.

"The federal law prohibits the use of credit cards, which are issued through banks, and the use of banking institutions to transfer money to pay off the gambling debt," Stenehjem said. "You can't use the Bank of North Dakota for that purpose under the federal law."

[/ QUOTE ]

Isn't this inaccurate? I thought the UIGEA relied on state laws for what is legal. If ND makes a bill saying online poker is OK I would think it would be OK by UIGEA for banks to process payments for it.

[FearNoEvil]

I don't know the specifics of the ND bill he is talking about; but his statements about what the new law does are simply inaccurate in that they leave out key details.

The new law looks to federal and state laws to determine what is unlawful gambling. A bank transfer is only illegal if the casino receiveing the transfer is illegal. A North Dakota law which made online gambling specifically legal would certainly be fine as long as there were no issues with the Wire Act. The question is whether the new law will have an effect on courts' interpretations of the Wire Act. It may be this Attorney General's view that the UIGEA will have an effect on courts' interpretations of the Wire Act in the future, but to say this is clear is, in my opinion, brazen and just total speculation.

[MiltonFriedman]

Actually, the title of the article now says nothing of the sort.

The quotes in the article are not from Jim Kaspar, they are from the State Attorney General.

The ND Atty Gen has a valid point about banking... unless, there is a way around it; which there clearly is for a State which wants to offer poker online to its residents.

I would be interested in Kasper's take on UIGE.

[whangarei]

[ QUOTE ]
Actually, the title of the article now says nothing of the sort.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmm ... maybe they changed it, or I am confusing articles. The title of the article is currently "Legal Online Poker for North Dakota Folds." On Gambling911, a similar story Gambling911 Kasper ND (http://www.gambling911.com/Jim-Kasper-Online-Poker-North-Dakota-102306.html) has the title "Republican Jim Kasper gives up on licensing online poker in North Dakota" with the excerpt: "Kasper said he was likely to give up his effort to make North Dakota a licensing agency for Internet poker sites." Though still no quoted phrase from Kasper saying as much.

[MiltonFriedman]

Okay THAT Gambling911 story does quote Kaspar. Too bad, because a larger State could support a site legally.

[permafrost]

[ QUOTE ]
Actually, the title of the article now says nothing of the sort.

The quotes in the article are not from Jim Kaspar, they are from the State Attorney General.

The ND Atty Gen has a valid point about banking... unless, there is a way around it; which there clearly is for a State which wants to offer poker online to its residents.

I would be interested in Kasper's take on UIGE.

[/ QUOTE ]

I had the impression the Kasper legislation was for ND to license and regulate online poker sites that then could deal worldwide. The AG was saying that could run afoul of Federal laws.

If the Kasper legislation was strictly intrastate, the AG is silly.