North Dakota state representative Jim Kasper wants to define poker played over the internet as a game of skill rather than gambling.
"I submit to you that poker is much different than gambling," Kasper told the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday. "The skill is what you do with what you are given."
Kasper is hoping that if Internet poker is excluded from the definition of gambling, it could entice hundreds of Internet poker businesses to North Dakota, creating hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue for the state.
Kasper wants to allow operations of the sites in North Dakota and fight the federal government in court if the federal officials block state law.
Kasper said the bill does not expand gambling because people can already legally play poker in casinos and on the Internet.
Bismarck Tribune Online - Bismarck, ND
