Casino Backers Aim to Win Over Critics

New Hampshire labor groups sponsored a lunch in the Statehouse cafeteria yesterday to promote the economic benefits of the casino bill, both for creating jobs and for funding state priorities.

"It's clear that support for SB 152 is building in the House," Joe Casey, president of the NH Building and Construction Trades Council, said in a statement. "The Representatives who attended today understand that SB152 will create thousands of jobs and create a critical revenue stream to fund our state's priorities."

The briefing comes as a special House committee digs into the regulations, community impact and projected revenues for the proposed high-end casino, which would allow up to 150 table games and up to 5,000 video slot machines.

"We have to," said Rep. Mary Griffin (R-Windham), following the briefing. "We need the money."

The Senate passed the bill last month, but the House is a higher hurdle because it has never passed such an expanded gambling bill.

Groups sponsoring the lunch hope to convince or reassure state representatives, particularly those on the fence. Besides NH Building and Construction Trades Council, the groups were the Granite State Teamsters, Ironworkers Local 7, NEA-NH, NH Troopers Association, Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 131, Professional Firefighters of NH, State Employees Association, and IBEW Locals 104, 490 and 2320.

Their points on the benefits of a casino include:

• more than $425 million in private investment
• creation of 3,165 on-site construction jobs, 567 indirect construction jobs and 1,949 full-time jobs in the operation of the casino.

The briefing featured some findings of the recent WMUR Granite State Poll, which indicated 63 percent support for a casino. That survey also found that 66 percent of respondents believe a casino would be neutral or have little impact on the state's image, while 21 percent said it would harm the state's image.

When the WMUR poll was released, long-time casino opponent Jim Rubens panned the results. He said supporters, such as Millennium Gaming, had been advertising and promoting casino gambling as a boon for taxpayers and the state. Rubens is chairman of the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling.

"There is no media budget to inform voters that casino money would come at the cost of lost jobs and revenues from thousands of local New Hampshire businesses, that casinos increase crime, addiction, and unmanageable household debt impacting many more people than gamblers, and that a decision to permit a casino at Rockingham will lead to tacky slot machine venues throughout the state," Rubens said in a statement earlier this month.

The House Joint Committee of Finance and Ways and Means has three subcommittee meetings on the bill scheduled for today, April 25. They are:

• 10 a.m., Community Impact Subcommittee work session, Room 208 of the Legislative Office Building.
• 10 a.m., Regulations Subcommittee work session, Room 210-211 of the LOB.
• 10 a.m., Revenue Subcommittee work session, Room 202 of the LOB.