Sports betting, and a perennial proposal of casinos by a veteran lawmaker are being discussed in the New Hampshire legislature.
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu has included anticipated revenues of sports betting in his proposed state budget, signaling that he intends to fight for a proposal that would allow sports wagering in bars and restaurants of the Granite State.
Sununu’s office estimates sports betting tax revenues would add $10 million annually to the budget. He is supporting a bipartisan bill introduced recently that would allow the state Lottery Commission to oversee sports betting with a private company as the provider.
Although not legal, sports betting takes place in many of the state’s pubs and taverns, almost openly, in the form of tournament pools, Super Bowl squares and individual bets on contests.
Sherri Spencer, the owner of 2 Doors Down, a bar in Somersworth, New Hampshire told Fosters.com “If they made it legal, it’d be a lot simpler.” Her bar ranks second in the Granite State in Keno 603 revenues, having brought in $429,208 since the game began. “We got so many more new customers from Keno, it’s been awesome,” Spencer said. “It’s been great. I love it.”
Under the bill Sununu supports, sports betting would be allowed only in towns that approve it, which is how Keno 603 operates. It would also allow players to put bets through a computer or mobile platform.
Something of a stampede among the states to legalize sports betting came after the May decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that lifted the federal ban that had been in place since 1993, and which allowed only four exceptions, Delaware, Montana, Nevada and Oregon.
In this region of the country New Hampshire would be joining Rhode Island, which began offering sports book on the day after Thanksgiving. However, Maine, Massachusetts and Connecticut are standing in the wings with bills moving their way through the legislatures. Only Vermont is standing pat on no sports betting.
Meanwhile, as he has done for about 20 years, Senator Lou D’Allesandro last week introduced a bill that would allow table games and slots play in the state, something he has argued could be an important source of revenue for the state.
His bill would authorize up to two casinos, each with video lottery terminals (VLTs) and gaming tables. At most the casinos could support 5,000 machines.
Even though the senator is not giving up, most of those who have pinned their hopes on past efforts appeared to have done so, since D’Allesandro’s testimony before the Senate Finance Committee drew smaller crowds than in past years.
The senator declared, “We are always looking for revenue in a non-tax methodology to support programs in New Hampshire. This not only supports programs in New Hampshire, but it provides construction jobs … and it provides a series of other taxes to the local communities and to the state.”
The State Lottery Commission estimates that two casinos could take in up to $135 million by 2023 and $194 million by 2024. The tax revenues in those two projections would be $102 million and $160 million respectively. That posits a 35 percent tax on VLTs and 18 percent on table games.
Casinos would be required to pay $40 million for a 10-year license and $600 per machine. As with the sports betting proposal, communities would need to agree to host a casino.
Henry Veilleux, a lobbyist for the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling, told lawmakers, “I think this bill is past its time.”
However D’Allesandro insists he still gets phone calls from potential casino operators who want to build in New Hampshire.
The senator quipped “People always call and ask: ‘Is the ability to do a casino license in New Hampshire still alive?’ Yeah, sure it’s still alive, as long as I’m alive.”
One of those groups, Seabrook Park, sent a representative to the hearing. Seabrook was recently purchased by Eureka Casino Resorts, which is investing to upgrade the racetrack.
Seabrook’s lobbyist Mike McLaughlin told the lawmakers, “If the bill passes they do have interest and they have the intuition that they feel that New England and New Hampshire can continue to support a level of gaming that would be successful for the state.”
Veilleux is a skeptic about the projected revenues. He noted that when the previous governor, Maggie Hassan, had supported casino gaming, that the revenues were based on the state having a competitive advantage by drawing from a market that included Massachusetts. But now that the Bay State’s big casino resorts are coming on line, those figures are suspect, he said.
“Back in the day, when there was financial interest, maybe it could raise this much, but I think if you pass this bill now, you end up with a few small slot parlors, which would not be destination casinos,” said the casino opponent.
D’Allesandro is the dean of New Hampshire senators and in 20 years of trying to pass a casino bill, he has come close several times. Such as last year when the bill won a 12-11 vote in the chamber, but failed because the senate president suspended the rules to establish a two-thirds vote requirement. In other tries the bill passed in the Senate but bogged down in the House.
