New Hampshire seeks to expand gambling

New Hampshire is looking at a busy legislative season, as a number of bills are being worked on, and all of them could yet lead to the expansion of online gambling in the state. The hot-button topic right now is whether online casinos should be made part of the gambling fabric of the state, something that a new bipartisan bill wants to see happens.

SB104 is a piece of legislation introduced last week on Wednesday that could see this through yet. The bill molds its basic principles after many similar legislations passed successfully elsewhere in the United States.

Essentially, SB104 empowers private companies to offer online casino games to New Hampshire residents, and any visitors, providing that they are geolocated in the state at the time of accessing the games and playing them. Online casino games are a particularly important topic for many jurisdictions in the country.

With more than 30 states legalizing sports gambling in the United States, online casino games are still the biggest source of revenue. According to the New Hampshire Lottery Commission, expanding gambling to include online casinos could easily contribute another $17m in annual tax, and this could, in turn, be used to fund various educational initiatives, specifically college scholarships.

There is sufficient interest from those same private companies already. During a hearing of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, DraftKings representative Rebecca London has confirmed that New Hampshire would stand to benefit from the potential legalization of online casino games citing the biggest upside – more revenue that will be directly re-distributed by the state.

Bringing in more from online casino games would mean that New Hampshire would be able to avoid raising taxes as well, London explained. Lawmakers in the state would also have other matters to debate during the legislative session. Another suggestion seeks to potentially expand the number of bingo games allowed each month to 16 events for each licensed facility registered with the state.

Charitable gambling organizers are also set to potentially get a boost as lawmakers will debate whether the maximum size of the bets placed in such places could be increased. Some of the suggestions are to increase the maximum bet for blackjack and similar games to $50, from presently $10, and to push the entry fee for live poker tournaments to $2,500, from $150 presently.

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