The New Hampshire House voted last week 192-172 not to reconsider an earlier vote to kill the two-casino bill. That makes three times within the space of a couple of months that the House has voted not to adopt a bill that would have authorized two casinos with 5,000 slots and 240 gaming tables.
In the second vote the House voted 173-172 with the presiding officer casting the tie-breaker.
Supporters had argued that the Granite State needed the additional revenue to make up for a tax that a superior court judge ruled was unconstitutional. That ruling drastically lowered the rating of the state’s bonds, causing some lawmakers to panic, and others to see it as an opportunity to make up the loss in the budget through gaming taxes and license fees.
The issue could come up again, since opponents of gaming were not able to muster enough votes to bar the bill from being reconsidered before the end of the legislature session next month.
The House and Senate, each controlled by different parties, have clashed repeatedly over the years over gaming, with the Senate supporting a casino bill and the House killing the same.
Governor Maggie Hassan supports a bill with one casino but not two. She wants a casino to keep some of the gambling money that residents spend in other states within New Hampshire’s borders.
The House vote is seen as boon for the city of Boston, since that means gamblers are more likely to visit the city. Boston has no casinos proposed for within its borders, but casinos are proposed for two adjacent cities, Revere and Everett.
The threat of a casino in New Hampshire’s Rockingham Park was considered credible by Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby, who called such a casino “inevitable” many months ago.
