15-09-2006 Kasper returns

Rep. Jim Kasper plans to introduce a bill in the next session of the North Dakota legislature to bring the internet poker industry to the state by legalizing and regulating online poker.

In return for North Dakota regulating online poker, internet poker sites will have to move& their hardware, software and employees to North Dakota as well as pay a tax on gross revenues.

Licensed poker sites will also have to use North Dakota's state-owned bank as a measure to protect gamblers' money and safeguard against money laundering.

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

In 2005, a similar measure failed in Senate.