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US ban impedes a move to regulate internet gambling in the Northern Marianas

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House Speaker Oscar Babauta said that a bill to regulate internet gambling in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, which has been pending in the House of Representatives for months, has faced a setback after President Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, barring US financial institutions from handling online gambling transactions.

Following the decline of the CNMI\’s garment and tourism industries, the regulation of internet gambling, with Asia as the primary market, was seen as one of the best ways to diversify the economy of the Northern Marianas.

“But naturally, if the U.S. government bans online gambling, there is no way that we can do it here in the CNMI,” said Babauta.

“We do fall under the U.S. government and we need to abide by certain federal regulations. If there\’s a new law that bans Internet gaming, that may apply to the CNMI as well,” added the House Press Secretary.

Elsewhere, the South African Government is looking to pass a new legislation that will regulate online casinos by the end of the first quarter of 2007. “We do not believe outlawing will stop [interactive] gambling, therefore it is better to regulate it,” commented Astrid Ludin of the Department of Trade and Industry.