Offshore Gambling Operation

Lien Games, which took over simulcast wagering in North Dakota after a bankruptcy judge approved the liquidation of Racing Services Inc., is seeking approval of a plan to funnel wagering on racing to North Dakota though an offshore hub based in the Caribbean. North Dakota regulators said they are not sure if the practice would be legal. Mike Cichy, general manager of Lien Games, told the North Dakota Racing Commission on Tuesday that the plan has the potential to rejuvenate the state’s declining gambling industry, the Associated Press reports. "I’ve got people that want to plug money into setting the system up," Cichy said, although he did not disclose who would financially back his plan or estimate how much money might be wagered under his proposal. "The racing commission can shut it down any time they want. We just need permission to start it up." Cichy pressed the state for action, stressing that regulators in other states might want to capitalize on the venture, according to the Associated Press. Bill Peterson, an assistant attorney general who represents the commission, said he would have to see a formal proposal before he begins examining the legal issues involved in tying a North Dakota business to offshore gambling. "I cannot advise you whether it complies with North Dakota law, federal law, or international law because I do not understand what we are dealing with here," Peterson said. Commission Chairman Jim Boehm, said Cichy’s proposal, which comes in the aftermath of the federal prosecution of the state’s former simulcast provider, Racing Services, for operating an illegal gambling site, left him cautious. "Come on, now. We just had a big fiasco," Boehm said after the meeting. "We’re not going to step into another big mud pie. Not that fast." Cichy and Andy Stronach have sought to use permissive North Dakota laws to develop new wagering machine concepts. Lien Games operates the Turf Club off-track betting parlor in the basement of a Howard Johnson in Fargo where earlier this year, Stronach, the son of Magna Entertainment Corp. Chairman Frank Stronach, was experimenting with a new wagering machine similar to the Horse Wizard machines offered at some Magna racetracks. Cichy said the prototypes, which have an Internet function, are being testing in North Dakota because of the state’s permissive laws for placing wagers through electronic machines. "The laws in North Dakota are set up so that as long as it’s a legal bet on a track, any electronic means can be used to place the bets," Cichy told the Fargo-Moorhead In-Forum in January. Thoroughbred Times.com