The Bismark Tribune carried good news for poker fans this week when
it reported that state legislators wanting to legalize Internet poker
in North Dakota had won another victory when the House voted 50-44
in favor of a resolution that would put the question to a vote in
the June ballot.
House Concurrent Resolution 3035 allows citizens to vote on whether
the North Dakota Constitution should be amended to make Internet poker
legal.
The vote on the resolution was taken yesterday afternoon (Tuesday)
following a four-hour hearing on House Bill 1509, a separate bill
which would set guidelines for establishing the industry in the state.
Supporters of the game say millions of people are already gambling
on the Internet on offshore sites that receive little or no regulation.
Rep. Blair Thoreson said regulating the industry will help reduce
problems with those who already play the game. "If we don't
do something to regulate it, who knows what the downside is,"
Thoreson said.
Internet poker sites operate offshore because of fear of the 1961
Wire Act, which was aimed at preventing betting over the phone lines.
However, supporters of the legislation say that law does not apply
to Internet poker.
"Obviously the Internet wasn't even a gleam in anyone's
eye at that point," Sue Schneider, CEO of River City Group,
told the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday. Schneider said the law
is specific to sports betting, not Internet poker.
Opponents of the bill are worried that legalizing Internet poker will
pit the state against the federal government, or it will lead to an
expansion of gambling.
Rep. Kari Conrad, said the state could spend $1 million to fight the
federal government if the Justice Department says the state's law
is illegal. "All of the other gaming we've considered was
in the realm of possibility. This is not," Conrad said.
"This I think it is too big of a gamble."
Nevada has already passed legislation legalizing Internet poker, but
that legislation never went into effect because it required approval
of the Justice Department, which has taken the position under President
Bush and former President Clinton that the practice is illegal.
Nigel Payne, CEO of Sportingbet Plc., the largest Internet sports
and gaming business in the world, said the industry wants to be regulated
because it will give customers more confidence in their operations.
"Customers will flock to a Web site that's regulated,"
Payne said.
Payne, who flew into Bismarck from the company's headquarters in London,
also testified in favor of the bill, and said his company alone would
generate $10 million a year in tax revenue for the state.
Also attending the hearing and giving evidence for online poker was
Michael Corfman, the portal and publishing industry personality who
has challenged the US Department of Justice on their attempts to intimidate
online advertising media.
Corfman, who is president of Casino City Press of Newton, Mass., said
the number of poker sites has risen from 43 in June 2003 to 266 at
the end of last month.
"If a state agrees to license Internet poker sites, American
players, who make up a majority of the market, will naturally gravitate
to sites regulated in the United States," he said. "That's
just common sense. If you were gaming, or going to play poker, where
would you rather play? I think you'd all rather play in a regulated
environment, and you'd rather play in the United States than some
overseas jurisdiction."
Some opponents of the bill said the problems the industry would bring
would outweigh the benefits.
Sen. Connie Triplett said she has not decided how she will vote yet.
However, Triplett, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said
the arguments from opponents seem to justify the need to regulate the
industry. "The opponents did a better job of pointing out
the need for the bill than the proponents," Triplett said.
The issue is far from being resolved by the Legislature.
HCR3035 and HB1509 will both have to be approved before Internet poker
could be legalized.