House Kills Casino Bill

CONCORD, NH – Gov. Maggie Hassan fought for a casino and the Senate overwhelmingly passed casino gambling, but the House of Representatives refused to play along, voting Wednesday to kill the bill.

The bill was rejected by a 199 to 164 vote and followed some tradition: The 400-member House has never passed expanded gambling. 

Here's a link to the roll call vote.

Senate Bill 152 would legalize one "high-end" casino with up to 150 table games and no more than 5,000 video slot machines.

Rep. Stephen Spratt (D-Greenville) and Rep. Patricia Lovejoy (D-Stratham) opened the long floor fight. Spratt said the proposed casino would mean revenue for the state, and offset New Hampshire dollars flowing to out-of-state casinos. Lovejoy maintains that a casino would result in higher crime, greater problem gamblers and other social costs.

Referring to the social costs cited by opponents, Spratt said morality has never been successfully legislated in this country's history. 

One of the state representatives speaking against the casino bill has supported expanded gambling in the past. Rep. Steve Vaillancourt (R-Manchester) said SB 152 gives a monopoly to one out-of-state company. "Greed is rampant from head to toe in this bill," Vaillancourt said.

Other speakers supporting the casino bill touted its economic benefits.

Rep. Gary Azarian (R-Salem) said the proposed casino would bring thousands of jobs to the state.

Casino gambling is coming to Massachusetts and that is changing everything, said Rep. David Campbell (D-Nashua). "These are the stark fiscal realities if we don't approve our own (casino gambling)," he said.

Rep. David Hess (R-Hooksett) questioned the bill's regulatory oversight, its lack of judicial review, and having the NH Lottery Commission as a top regulatory agency. Gambling itself is at question, Hess added. 

He asked, "How can we address unmet needs by creating more unmet needs?"

The Senate voted 16-8 to pass the casino bill in March. While it breezed through that chamber, a House committee spent almost a month studying proposed regulations, revenue projections and community impact of a casino before recommending, by a 23-22 vote, that the full House kill the bill.

Despite that committee vote, there were 17 amendments proposed that were never addressed by the committee. The amendments included ways to strengthen regulatory oversight, improve enforcement, better protect existing charitable gaming operators, and protect against undue political influence by casino operators. Another amendment aimed to protect existing, larger entertainment venues in New Hampshire, including the Capital Center for the Arts and the Verizon Wireless Arena.

Supporters argued New Hampshire should allow one casino to help fund state priorities – and Governor Hassan included a proposed $80 million casino license fee in her recommended budget. The backdrop to this historic debate is the emerging casino economy in Massachusetts. Hassan underscored that earlier this session:

"We can no longer pretend that expanded gambling isn’t coming to our communities,” she said in her budget address. “The question is: will we allow Massachusetts to take revenue from New Hampshire residents to fund its needs, or will we develop our own plan that will allow us to address social costs and invest in our priorities."

The bill calls for one location, which sponsors said would block proliferation, but that one venue is not identified in the legislation. Rockingham Park in Salem is one interested party, and there’s a proposed $600 million plan by Millennium Gaming for a casino and restoration of thoroughbred racing at the track.

"There will never be only one casino," Lovejoy, a member of the House committee researching the bill, said last week. "There is no state that has one casino. Proliferation is a given."

A motion to reconsider the full House vote on Wednesday was made by Rep. Gary Richardson (D-Hopkinton). That motion was squashed by a vote of 152 to 212.

Casino Free New Hampshire and Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling were among the critics calling on state representatives to reject the casino bill.

Jim Rubens, chairman of the GSCAEG, also sounded off on the result.

"Despite the most intensive lobbying pressure ever, despite the most arm twisting ever of this legislature. It barely gained any ground compared to last year," said Rubens.

Rubens added that there is "no free money" from expanded gambling, and that if SB 152 had passed, it would have sucked money out of thousands of existing small businesses.

Rich Killion, spokesman for Millennium Gaming, exited the gallery of the House chamber disappointed in the result, but still on board with Salem residents.

“We totally remain committed to the people of Salem in support of what we want to do for its historic Rockingham Park. Clearly we’re disappointed with the outcome of today’s vote. It’s unfortunate that the House has decided to stand against the people of New Hampshire who support a casino in their state by two one margins. But we’re heartened by the very strong leadership of (Gov. Maggie Hassan) and the House and Senate sponsors in advocating for this bill and we look forward to the future."

Millennium Gaming owns the option to purchase Rockingham Park if and when legislation passes in the state for expanded gambling, followed by a bid being awarded to the park.

Governor Hassan issued a statement expressing disappointment in the vote.

"It is disappointing to see the House of Representatives break from the New Hampshire tradition of open and thorough debate on key issues by voting against moving forward with full consideration of SB 152 and the thoughtful, bipartisan amendments being offered by members.

I remain committed to working with the legislature to finalize a balanced budget that restores the priorities that the people of New Hampshire support: job creation, higher education, economic development, strengthening our mental health system and protecting the health and well-being of our communities. Without passing SB 152, the path will be more difficult, but the people of New Hampshire expect us to do difficult things. We must work together to keep our state moving forward and to ensure a brighter, more innovative economic future for all Granite Staters."

House Speaker Terie Norelli (D-Portsmouth) said the joint House Committee on Finance and Ways and Means logged more than "3,000 member hours" in reviewing the bill. Her statement after the vote:

"I’m proud of the tremendous effort to provide thorough consideration to this complex proposal, the 45 members of our Joint Committee did a great job and deserve respect and gratitude for the work they put into improving the bill. On the House floor we had a vibrant, informative and respectful debate on an issue that inspires great passion.

While we disagreed on SB 152, the Governor and House share the belief that we should prioritize restoring investments slashed in the O’Brien budget. The Senate is currently discussing heavy handed cuts to the responsible budget the House Finance Committee sent them. The House budget restores investments in higher education, mental health, developmental disabilities services, and fixing our crumbling roads and bridges creating jobs and growing our economy. We need those investments restored to ensure long term prosperity for our communities and our state."

New Hampshire GOP Chairwoman Jennifer Horn also issued a statement, calling the bill's defeat an "embarrassment" for Hassan:

Governor Hassan has suffered an embarrassing and politically damaging defeat at the hands of her own party. The governor's illegal casino revenue scheme was so irresponsible that even the Democrat controlled House of Representative would not support it despite months of intense lobbying from her incompetent administration. Hassan has failed her first test of leadership in the corner office, and demonstrated that she lacks the skills, vision and gravitas required to control her own party and effectively govern our state.

"The governor gambled with New Hampshire's future by basing her budget on $80 million in casino licensing fees even though there was never any proof that gaming legislation would pass the Legislature. Now her fiscally irresponsible house of cards has collapsed, damaging her credibility and leaving her budget proposal in shambles. It is time for the governor to go back to the drawing board and work with the Legislature on a new plan that will keep taxes low, control spending and protect the New Hampshire Advantage.

Senate President Peter Bragdon (R-Milford) said that it doesn't seem like casino legislation is going to go much further this year. He added that there were no plans to put casino dollars in the budget, given the circumstances.

Sen. Chuck Morse (R-Salem), one of the casino bill sponsors, called the vote a "tough result" for the state budget.

"We know there's things that we have to address," he said. "There's no non-tax way of doing it and the Senate is not going to support taxes. I think today was a disappointment, but I think the budget will play itself out. It's not going to stop. The Senate will build it within the means that we have right now."

Senate Bill 152 roll call (199-164 vote to accept committee report of "inexpedient to legislate").