SEABROOK — A bill significantly tightening regulation of New Hampshire's $70 million charity gambling industry — including the poker rooms at Seabrook dog track — is on its way to Gov. John Lynch's office.
If signed by Lynch, its major provisions would require game operators to pass FBI background checks and increase the bond they must post against skipping out with the proceeds from $20,000 to $300,000.
"Let's face it. We aren't running a church here. This is gambling, and it needs regulations to protect everybody involved," said Seabrook resident Paul Kelley, who heads the Pari-mutuel Commission, the state board that oversees racetracks and gambling. "We estimate this is a $65 to $70 million cash industry. With 320 charities licensed to hold 10 games of gambling each year, that's 3,200 games going on each year that we have to oversee."
Kelley said at Seabrook Greyhound Park alone, there are two poker rooms running poker games in the name of charity every day.
The bill was passed by both houses of the Legislature this session. If signed by the governor, it would:
r Allow state officials to conduct federal criminal background checks — requiring fingerprints — of anyone applying for a primary game operator's license, in order to prevent applicants with serious convictions from obtaining the permits required to run the gambling events on behalf of New Hampshire charities. Licenses expire each year on Dec. 31.
r Raise the license bond primary game operators must post from $20,000 to $300,000.
r Give primary game operators permission to run the charity gambling events, but holds them responsible for everything related to the actual gambling. (Currently, charities are supposed to handle the money end of things themselves, but this doesn't always happen.)
r Permit state Pari-mutuel Commission officials to inspect all gambling equipment.
r Impose fines for infractions of any rules after a hearing with the commission. Fines range from $25 up to $5,000 for repeat offenses.
The new regulations in this bill were sought by Kelley, who has waged an uphill battle to get them passed. When the Pari-mutuel Commission was given the authority to oversee the charitable gaming industry in July 2006, Kelley said he considered the state of the industry "the wild, wild West."
"Accountability is what I'm trying to get here," Kelley said.
Kelley sought regulations to protect New Hampshire charities — which are supposed to get money for good causes from the gambling events — the gambling public and the state, which sanctions such gambling in New Hampshire only for the benefit of charities.
"Let's be realistic about this," Kelley said. "We've legalized casino gambling in New Hampshire in the name of charity."
Kelley supported another bill that would tax charitable gambling events and provide the commission with a staff to audit and supervise the games. House and Senate passed different versions of the measure and it's currently in a committee of conference to reconcile the differences.
Lynch has said he supports that bill.
Lynch's spokesman Colin Manning said the governor will review the bill strengthening regulations when it gets to his desk and does not have a position on it currently.
Restrictions on charity gambling events are already in state law, Kelley said.
To be licensed as a charity that can benefit from gambling, Kelley said the organization must be registered with the secretary of state for at least two years; must also be registered with the Charitable Trust Division of the state attorney general's office; and must actually be a charity with a charitable purpose.
"Without this, people could come to the state and register as a nonprofit just to get involved with the gambling," Kelley said.
Kelley's said FBI background checks for applicants for a primary game operator's license are important to ensure the wrong people don't get involved in the industry. Currently, background checks don't include nationwide searches through the FBI.
"There are currently about 60 primary game operators licensed in New Hampshire," Kelley said. "If they don't consent to the FBI check (under the bill), they don't get their annual license."
The fines also are important for enforcement purposes, he said, a "badly needed tool" to put teeth in the regulations. If a hearing before the commission, a quasi-judicial body, i determines there have been infractions of regulations, fines up to $5,000 can be imposed.
The bond increase protects charities if primary game operators skip out with the funds, Kelley said. That has happened at least once that Kelley recalls, costing three charities about $70,000.
The game operator at Seabrook Greyhound Park is Seacoast Poker, LLC, whose members are listed on the 2008 annual report to the secretary of state as Anthony Capone and Lester Nishi, of Andover, Mass., and Hampton, N.H., respectively.
When contacted, Nishi said it is their policy not to comment on press inquiries.
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