Sad Day for Players

[AAAA]

the whole article...
12:08 PM, Wednesday, February 8, 2006by Lianne Elias

Republican representative Jim Kasper from Fargo, North Dakota, has announced he may abandon his efforts to push for an initiative to license Internet poker and card rooms in North Dakota due to a lack of funding from supporters in the online gaming industry. Kasper, a longtime Internet poker advocate, believes legalizing online poker would bring millions of dollars in licensing revenues to North Dakota.

Kasper has attended numerous Internet gaming conferences to promote the initiative and collect money for a campaign. He proposed a cost of $1 million to run the campaign but received no formal commitments from representatives of gaming firms. "At this point in time, there's nothing, and very soon, I've got to say the door is closed, and not go any further," he said.

Kasper blames his failure to secure concrete financial backing on the decentralized nature of the Internet gaming industry. "I need to figure out, and I haven't yet, how to get the industry to make a commitment to fund an initiated measure, and they're not organized. They're all over the world," he said. "How do I bring them all together? That's my problem, and I have not solved that problem yet."

In a last effort to push the initiative, Kasper and his fellow poker advocates are hoping to collect enough petition signatures to bypass the Legislature and put the issue directly to the people in a referendum vote on the next ballot, which is in November, 2006.

To get the initiative organized in time, Kasper would need to establish a campaign fundraising committee, write drafts of the initiated law and constitutional amendments, and submit petitions for approval to North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger, as well as raise $1 million to fund the campaign. Once the campaign is in order, Kasper’s people would need to collect 12,844 signatures for the initiated ballot and 25,688 signatures for the constitutional amendment, all by August 8, 2006.

Kasper first sponsored a bill and constitutional amendment to legalize the licensing and regulation of Internet poker during the 2005 Legislature. His attempt was approved in the House but rejected by the Senate.

[Jimbo]

Only sad for players living in the wastelands of ND. His State legislation had no chance to circumvent interstate and international gambling laws.

Jimbo

[Gregatron]

That is interesting, but I'm not sure it's all that sad. The thing is, this justice dept is more than willing to go toe to toe with state governments when they disagree with federal law. This is not as high profile an issue as medical maryjane (CA) or assisted suicide (OR), but doing something like this might actually HURT online poker by drawing a line in the sand toward the federal government, which might harm the cause for legalization in the long run. Sometime discression is the better part of valor.

Just my thoughts. That was an interesting post though. Thanks for making it.

[AAAA]

He had some very good ideas about how to help define "session" that would be very beneficial to recreational and professional players, IMO. If a session were defined as a reporting period by the state of North Dakota, and it was an annual event, it would make things much easier on recreational players.

I spoke with him about this and he was quite confident that he could get the North Dakota revenue department to get the IRS to go along with this.

[Jimbo]

[ QUOTE ]
He had some very good ideas about how to help define "session" that would be very beneficial to recreational and professional players, IMO. If a session were defined as a reporting period by the state of North Dakota, and it was an annual event, it would make things much easier on recreational players.

I spoke with him about this and he was quite confident that he could get the North Dakota revenue department to get the IRS to go along with this.

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't mean to imply he had a bad idea. A teletransportation machine is a good idea too. So is world peace and eliminating world hunger.

Getting the IRS to agree with his definition of a session is very good too. The problem is it would necessitate moving to ND and playing on their websites. Personally I have been there once and that was enough for me.

Jimbo

[Eder]

Key word is "1 Million Dollars" If their gov is like ours about 95% of this money will end up in the pockets of polititians and their friends.

Sounds like he's dissapointed that he may need to find a new scam to fund his bank account.

[Jimbo]

The more I think about this the less smart he seems. If he publicized the year long session idea thousands of gabmlers would contribute since it would make B&M sessions much easier to account for as well.

I think I agree with Eder he is unhappy he is missing the money.

Jimbo

[MicroBob]

translation:

attention internet-poker sites,
please pay me $1-million and I'll keep talking about how great you are.
Thanks.

[AAAA]

The guy used a lot of his own money to travel to see some site owners and discuss it with them.

However, the money is used to pay people in North Dakota to stand in front of libraries and grocery stores to collect signatures and to put ads on local television to make sure the voters have a chance to see the benefits to people from north Dakota. The basic idea to get them to accept the program was to use the profit to reduce or eliminate the state property taxes.

I bet it wouldn't hurt htat there were some decent paying jobs producd in a state that is not the most desirable place to live. I spent a winter in South Dakota and was glad it was only one!