Paul Bowlinger, the director of North Dakota's Racing Commission, is quitting to become director of a national group of horse-racing regulators, a position he called a "dream job."

Bowlinger said Tuesday that his decision was not influenced by recent pressure on him to resign, or by the aftermath of troubles at a Fargo horse-race betting company, whose executives are accused of running an illegal off-track wagering shop.

Critics of Bowlinger submitted petitions to the state Racing Commission in July, which described him as inaccessible and rude and said he should be fired. The commission declined, with members saying they strongly backed Bowlinger.

Bowlinger, 44, will become director of the North American Pari-Mutuel Regulators Association, which is one of two major organizations that regulate horse racing nationally. It is based in Cheyenne, Wyo.

The group's current director, Frank Lamb, serves part time and is also director of the Wyoming Racing Commission. Bowlinger serves on the North American association's board and applied for the director's job when board members decided it should be a full-time position.

"I eat, breathe and sleep racing, and this is a dream job for me," Bowlinger said. "It allows me to affect racing on a national level. We're involved in the real nuts and bolts, in places with huge racetracks, and huge handle." Handle is an industry term for the amount of money wagered.

The board agreed to let Bowlinger work out of Bismarck, and he said he will continue living here. He expects to leave his current job in two weeks, Bowlinger said.

The Racing Commission has two staffers, Bowlinger and Helen Tessmann, an administrative assistant. It is part of Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem's office, but the five-member commission itself hires the director and sets the job's salary and qualifications.

Its chairman, Jim Boehm of rural Mandan, said he wanted to speak to Stenehjem and Bowlinger about the process of hiring Bowlinger's replacement.

"It's quite a promotion, and quite an opportunity for him," Boehm said. "I think he'd be foolish not to take it …I think it's pretty honorable that he got picked. I wish him well."

Since Bowlinger's hiring in September 2000, the commission helped develop a horse-racing track in Fargo, with help from taxes on pari-mutuel wagering.

The track "stands as the achievement of which I am the most proud," Bowlinger said. "However, getting it built was like pushing rope uphill. If supported and managed correctly, I believe racing at the North Dakota Horse Park can be a benefit to racing, as well as an economic boon to the state's economy."

North Dakota's tax collections on horse wagering were greatly inflated by one gambler who bet huge sums through Racing Services Inc. of Fargo.

Racing Services lost its simulcast license last December after the company and its two principal executives were indicted in federal court for money laundering and conspiracy to conduct illegal gambling. They have pleaded not guilty to the charges, which involve the alleged operation of an illegal off-track wagering shop that took in $99 million in bets, while leaving $6.5 million worth of state taxes unpaid.

Critics of Bowlinger, in their July petition to the Racing Commission, said he was slow to recognize there was fraud going on, a claim he disputes.

"That was not an auditing problem, that was a law enforcement problem, where someone set up an illegal gaming site," Bowlinger said. "How would you find it? And we found it in, essentially, three or four months … I'm extremely proud of what we did."