Senator Lou D’Allesandro, who for several years stubbornly has pushed through bills that would expand gaming in New Hampshire, despite such bills dying in House, is trying one more time in this legislative session.
Such a bill was defeated last month by the House, but the senator revised his bill by adding comprehensive regulations that were suggested last year by a special panel appointed by Governor Maggie Hassan.
“We know we need the revenue. No question about that. This is probably our last shot,” D’Allesandro said last week. He worked with Senate President Chuck Morse to bring a bill to a vote that would allow two casinos sharing 5,000 slots and 240 gaming tables.
The defeated House bill would have authorized one casino with 5,000 slots and 150 tables.
D’Alessandro’s new bill authorizes two casino sharing a total of 5,000 video slot machines and 240 table games. The bill also shares tax revenue from the casino with every community in the state.
“The revenue sharing takes care of every citizen, every city and town in New Hampshire,” D’Allesandro said.
The new bill didn’t fool the opposition, however.
Senator Martha Fuller Clark, a Portsmouth Democrat, said it wasn’t a done deal since future legislatures could take those payments away.
“Every time a bill comes before us it promises a different way to use the revenues,” she said.
The state lottery estimates that the senator’s bill would bring in about $168 million in taxes and $480 million for the casino operators. The bill passed the Senate 15-9 and will now be considered by the House.
Although the two chambers of legislature agree that the state needs highway improvements, more expenditures in college education and economic development, they disagree on how to fund them.
The public, however, appears to agree with D’Allesandro. A just released telephone survey by the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce found that 58 percent of those surveyed wanted expanded gaming and that most of them thought a casino should be sited in the southern part of the state.
