A committee of the New Hampshire House of Representatives held its first hearing on SB 104, a bill already passed by the state Senate that would legalize online table games and poker, but not slot machines.
The state lottery would regulate the online games, and 35 percent of revenues would go to direct funding for higher education in the form of a newly created community college education scholarship fund. A fiscal analysis of the bill predicted that around $13.5 million annually would be donated to the college fund by 2026.
At the hearing, representatives of education testified in favor of the proposal, and representatives of charitable gaming operations expressed concern that online gaming would cannibalize retail operations. More than 70 charitable organizations operate gaming at 14 locations around New Hampshire, taking 35 percent of profit from table games and 75 percent of profits from historical horse racing machines. The state lottery gets 10 percent of those revenues.
The lottery reported that last year, charitable gaming raised $17.7 million for charitable organizations.
SB 104 was sponsored by state Senator Tim Lang, who also sponsored the state’s sports betting legislation, which passed in 2019. The state granted DraftKings an exclusive contract to operate sports betting in exchange for a 51 percent take of the revenue.
