Last week the New Hampshire House approved a sports betting bill previously passed by the Senate. Now it heads to the desk of Governor Chris Sununu, who is almost certain to sign it, probably in July. New Hampshire thus becomes the second New England state to legalize sports book, following on the steps of Rhode Island.
Now that the bill has been passed it will head to the Enrolled Bills Committee, which will clean it up and remove all typos before sending it to the governor, who will then have ten days to sign it.
The governor previously listed $10 million in revenues from sports betting in his budget for this year and had previously urged lawmakers to send him such a bill. Proponents estimate sports betting will raise about $7.5 million in taxes the first year. That amount could rise to $13.5 million in the second year. Most will be designated for education although some will be earmarked for a newly created Council for Responsible Gambling.
Last week’s House voice vote was really a formality since the chamber in March had approved of the bill. However, when the bill then went to the Senate that body added some tweaks on May 30. So the final vote was required to reconcile the two versions.
The final bill allows for both mobile sports betting and betting tied to a physical location, although the number of mobile sportsbooks has been limited to five, while the number of physical locations has been capped at ten. Which can be either be “commercial businesses or general commercial retail locations.”
The limitations had been opposed by the bill’s original author, Rep. Timothy Lang, who supported a free market approach.
The new law prohibits wagers on college teams based in the Granite State. Wagers for out-of-state college teams is allowed. Mobile registration for mobile apps is permitted.
The final version also moves back the date when it becomes effective to early 2020 so that regulators—in this case the New Hampshire Lottery and a new Division of Sports Wagering—will have more time to develop rules. That would mean New Hampshire sports fans could bet on March Madness next year.
Once again the major sports leagues failed to persuade a legislature to set aside any percentage of sports betting revenues for an “integrity fee” or other payout.
Rep. Lang announced himself to be satisfied that his bill has become law. He told Legal Sports Report, “I look at it as three groups are winning. The citizens are winning in that they will now be able to place a bet and have consumer protections behind it, businesses are winning because they’ll have the opportunity to grow, and lastly the State of New Hampshire is winning because it gets revenue that will go toward education.”
