House Vote to Come this Week on Casino Bill

A massive expanded gambling bill that if passed could bring a $600 million casino project to Rockingham Park will be voted on this week in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

Senate Bill 152 is expected to be on the House calendar for this Wednesday. The session begins at 10 a.m in Concord.

Last week, a joint House Committee of Finance/Ways and Means voted 23-22 to recommend SB 152 "inexpedient to legislate."

Windham Rep. Mary Griffin, who has expressed her support for SB 152 voted against the ITL motion, which was made by Rep. Patricia Lovejoy (D-Stratham).

A total of 17 amendments were presented earlier that morning, but none were voted on as the ITL motion was taken up first.

Despite the recommendation, Gov. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), released a statement where she remained optimistic as the bill heads to the full House:

I am extremely encouraged by the closeness of today's committee vote. Even without members having the opportunity to vote on bipartisan amendments, the one-vote margin demonstrates the strong and growing support in the House of Representatives for SB 152.

As the bill moves to the floor, I believe the full House will give a more complete consideration to this legislation and the proposed bipartisan amendments that were not voted on today. I am confident the House understands that the people of New Hampshire want to invest in the priorities needed to create jobs, strengthen our communities, and spur innovative economic growth: higher education, mental health, public safety, economic development, and other critical areas. And the people of New Hampshire strongly support funding our priorities through one highly regulated destination casino.

I urge the full House to listen to the people we represent, thoughtfully consider the legislation and proposed changes, and vote in favor of moving forward with our own plan to build a stronger, more innovative New Hampshire.

Anti-casino groups Casino Free New Hampshire and Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling urged the House to support the ITL vote.

Jim Rubens of the GSCAEG said that SB 152 would do lasting damage to New Hampshire:

"It's a very bad deal for New Hampshire. Without providing certain, stable revenues for either the next budget or the future, SB 152 would do lasting damage to our state. SB152 would create more new addicts than new jobs and send millions of entertainment dollars that now circulate in our local economy to a Las Vegas operator. That's bad public policy. We urge the House to support the Committee's ITL motion."

SB 152 calls for up to 150 table games and no more than 5,000 video lottery/slot machines at one highly regulated casino location in the state.