Another casino proposal will take the stage for a public hearing on Monday, when the N.H. Senate returns to work after their February break.
Last month, we tracked a different gambling proposal in the House that would create casinos with video poker, slots and table games. In the process, House Bill 593 would divert as much as $363 million of the state’s gambling take to reduce education property taxes and contribute to the Highway Fund. After a public hearing Feb. 22, the House Ways and Means Committee voted to retain the bill in committee.
The same fate is unlikely for a much more expansive effort currently underway in the Senate. On Monday, the Senate Ways and Means Committee will hold its first public hearing on Senate Bill 182, sponsored by Sen. Lou D’Allesandro (D-Manchester). The latest proposal from this longtime advocate for expanded gaming in New Hampshire — who co-sponsored HB 593 — is also co-sponsored by Sen. Jim Raucsch (R-Derry) and Sen. John Gallus (R-Berlin).
D’Allesandro’s bill would allow for 10,000 video lottery machines at four locations in the state, and would create a permit process for table gaming. The four locations would be determined, according the language of the bill, “based on demographics, population, access to appropriate transportation, suitability for tourism, local resources, and development opportunities.” The four casino operators would have to pay a combined $145 million in initial license fees.
Senate Bill 182 would also give the state 40 percent of all net video machine income, spreading that money among seven state and municipal government accounts:
- 31 percent for oversight and to the general fund
- 3 percent for property tax relief (divided equally among all ten counties)
- 3 percent for the city or town where a casino is located
- 1 percent for the casino’s neighboring cities or towns that are in the same county
- 1 percent for programs to treat problem gambling
- ½ percent for the department of travel and tourism to promote tourism in the state
- ½ percent for police, fire and emergency medical training
The bill’s preamble leaves little doubt about the economic development goals for expanded gambling: “New Hampshire has an interest in promoting economic recovery, revenue, property tax relief and job creation as soon as possible through the development of regulated gaming in order to preserve the quality of life for New Hampshire residents.”
As we noted in a recent dispatch, however, opponents of expanded gambling maintain that gambling’s economic benefits are overstated and the state’s “quality of life” would be threatened — not preserved.
For his part, D’Allesandro is nothing if not persistent. In 2010, he led the fight and won Senate approval for a similar bipartisan measure, but the House defeated it 212-158. In 2009, D’Allesandro also got Senate approval for expanded gambling as part of final House-Senate budget negotiations, but House conferees shot the measure down and it was removed before the final budget vote.
>> Monday, March 7, Senate Ways and Means Committee, public hearing for SB 182, Room 100 at the State House, beginning at 11 a.m.
This Daily Dispatch was written by Michael McCord.