The New Hampshire Senate last week passed the casino bill that had been introduced by longtime gaming proponent Senator Lou D’Allesandro. Although two Senate committees gave the bill negative reports, things changed quickly. As the senator described it, “We flipped it twice on the Senate floor. It passed with 13 votes—a comfortable margin. It’s on its way to the House. We’re going to have to work it there. We’re going to have to work it hard.”
D’Allesandro has been trying for 18 years. Similar bills have passed the Senate several times before, only to crash against the 400-member House, which is renowned for its legislative independence, and for being anti-gaming.
The bill would allow two casino licenses to be issued, but unlike earlier bills, doesn’t indicate where they should be located. At the urging of Senator Dan Innis, the bill includes a provision preventing the same developer from obtaining both licenses.
Innis told the Daily News of Newburyport, “I needed some assurance that this wasn’t a setup for one company to come in and take over. The amendment ensures the bidding process is open and aboveboard. I think that’s important. It also calls for a study within three years on the impact the casino has on the host community.”
D’Allesandro claims that SB 242 would create as many as 1,000 jobs and adds, “We estimate there’d be $150 million for the general fund from the 35 percent tax on gaming. That doesn’t include money the casinos will generate through state business profits, business enterprise, and rooms and meals taxes.”
The senator thinks this year might be the one that changes the House’s mind since last year it passed keno and digital purchase of lottery tickets because of additional revenue to the state. “The House is hungry and we’re going to give them a full meal,” he said.
Reps. Rio Tilton and Aboul Khan both favor the bill for its jobs creation possibilities.
“I’m in favor of this, especially if it came to Seabrook,” Tilton told the Daily News. “It would be a great way to help the economy. When the greyhound park was racing, a lot of Seabrook residents had jobs there.”
Khan added, “I hope this year the New Hampshire House will wake up and realize that this would be a big revenue producer for the state, and that they’ll do what they should for the New Hampshire economy.”
The bill calls for the two casinos to be open by 2021. It stipulates that one casino would have a license fee of $80 million and allow up to 3,500 slots and a second with a license fee of $40 million and up to 1,500 slots and 750 gaming tables. The New Hampshire Lottery Commission estimates that the casinos would generate more than $194 million their first year of operation.
Money from the casinos would be split between the host communities and neighboring towns, the host county and allow revenue sharing with other municipalities in the state.
Opponents include state Attorney General Joseph Foster and Casino Free NH.
