Granite State Taxpayers (GST) announces that it opposes Senate Bill 113 which would establish casino gambling in New Hampshire. The bill provides for two casinos in New Hampshire and a significant expansion of the State government bureaucracy to oversee the gaming activity, enforce gambling laws, receive and distribute license fees and pay for prevention and treatment of “problem gamblers”.
“In a time of economic stagnation that impacts the earning potential and take home pay of our citizens, it’s incomprehensible that our Legislature is considering the establishment of a monopoly for private companies to take money from the pockets of taxpayers on behalf of the state.” said Jim Adams, Chairman of the Granite State Taxpayers Board of Directors.
SB 113 is 107 pages long. The average person, including many in the Legislature, would struggle to fully understand the implications of the bill and its costs. We have come to expect such lawmaking by special interests in Washington, but not (so far) in New Hampshire.
Buried in SB 113 is authority for the Gaming Commissioner to provide “for the scientific care, treatment, and rehabilitation of gambling, alcohol and drug abusers, and work towards the prevention of, and assist in the control of, gambling, alcohol and drug abuse within the state through education, treatment, community organization, and research.” Also included is a study of “the problems presented by gambling, alcohol and drug abuse, including methods and facilities available for the care, treatment, custody, employment, and rehabilitation of persons who are problem gamblers.”
The Gaming Commissioner shall hire “staff and experts in the area of the authority’s oversight activities”. Under Section 11 Acceptance of Funds; Treatment of Problem Gamblers, the commissioner is “authorized to accept in the name of the state special grants or money or services from the federal or state governments or any of their agencies and may accept gifts to carry on the functions provided for in this chapter.”
SB113 is of benefit to certain groups such as government bureaucrats, state police, Towns and Counties where a casino might be sited, and certainly to those who will provide services to be required and the expertise that the Gaming Commission will need to fulfill its new duties.
Once established, gaming businesses in New Hampshire will surely rely on lobbyists to secure and expand their influence in the Legislature, likely providing a lucrative employment for those who have worked and voted to secure a foothold in New Hampshire for their business.
The revenue assumptions in SB113 Fiscal Notes state that revenue forecasts assume no gaming facility “within the metro region of Boston, Massachusetts, a location closer to the New Hampshire border, or in the southern portion of the State of Maine (south of Portland) operating in the next biennium.” The Massachusetts Gaming Commission however, has awarded a contract for a casino in Everett, MA, just north of Boston, which is planned to open late 2017. Competition from that casino can be expected to negatively impact the revenue projections.
Casinos are known to cause social and other costs that make their financial contribution to the state questionable. The money to pay for all of these special interests and issues will come directly from taxpayers. SB113 will establish new bureaucracies and state-sponsored monopolies that will take money out of the pockets of citizens and transfer it to favored groups.
“Granite State Taxpayers stands for taxpayers and for frugal, limited government. Casino gambling is an industry where sales and revenues are declining. It’s a bad choice for the State of New Hampshire.” said Adams.
Granite State Taxpayers is New Hampshire’s oldest statewide taxpayer association, founded in 1990 by former Governor Mel Thomson and former State Senator George Lovejoy to inform, educate and motivate New Hampshire taxpayers and to protect their interests.