SEABROOK — With the recession causing havoc with state revenues, there is belief that momentum is growing for gambling legislation in New Hampshire that could ultimately bring slots to Seabrook and other sites in the state.
With more than a $150 million revenue shortfall projected in the $11.6 billion two-year New Hampshire budget, the differing versions from the Senate and House are deep in Conference Committee, as leadership tries to hammer out a compromise that will pass both chambers.
The House and Senate budgets vary in a number of ways, but it is the Senate's inclusion of $205 million in revenue from 13,000 slot machines at five locations — including Rockingham, Belmont and Seabrook racetracks — that many are watching.
"I think Sen. Lou D'Allesandro (D-Manchester) was smart to add the gambling revenue to the state budget this year instead of offering it as a separate bill as before," said state Rep. Mark Preston (D-Seabrook). "It's the only way to plug the roughly $200 million hole in the budget."
The gambling's expansion passed the Senate with a 16-8 vote and drew support from Seabrook's state Sen. Maggie Wood Hassan (D-Exeter). But the N.H. House of Representative has historically turned down any format of expanding private gambling in the state.
Seabrook state Rep. Al Weare, a Republican who is a 10-year veteran of the process, said the Conference Committee is scheduled to report on June 24, in hopes of meeting the July 1 budget deadline.
But Weare is projecting legislators could end up approving a three-month continuing budget resolution instead of a final version. A continuing resolution would restrict spending to current levels, he said, while officials work on what could be a gambling/revenue shortfall stalemate between the two legislative bodies.
Since June 8, New Hampshire gambling proponents have been presenting information to back up their gambling revenue projections, while others have offered alternatives to video slots, like a new taxes on capital gains, or rises in meals or gas tax.
Like Preston, Weare supports adding slot machines at current racing venues but is struggling with spending built into the bill, called HB 2.
"I support gambling with slot machines at the racetracks," Weare said. "The only problem I have is that they have them in HB 2. I'm not a fan of HB 2. I don't know if I'm going to have to hold my nose and vote for HB 2 or vote against it because of the other things that are in it."
Weare said House Republican leadership opposes video slots. And, he added, there are important Democrats — like House Speaker Terie Norelli, of Portsmouth — who are not gambling proponents. Gov. John Lynch has also remained dubious about gambling, repeatedly saying he needs to be convinced it would not harm the state's current quality of life before he could approve it.
That excuse doesn't hold water with Preston. Many in Seabrook are warm to the idea of bringing in video slots.
"I think if they have to make $200 million more in cuts to the budget, or raise other taxes, that will hurt our quality of life more than expanding gambling," Preston said. "More cuts will undercut social services and safety programs throughout the state. And the other small fees they're thinking of raising won't raise enough money to make the difference gambling revenues will make."
Weare said there are other in the Legislature, mainly Democrats who support broad-based taxes, who could vote to kill gambling revenues in hopes of creating a situation that could make an income or sales tax a viable option.
"There is a group in favor of a sales or income tax," Weare said. "You can create a fiscal crisis to promote it. That may be the only way something like that passes."
Preston said that's a bad strategy. If Democrats in the Legislature kill gambling and push through an income tax, voters will retaliate, removing Democrats from office at the next election, he said. Those who replace them could overturn the social reforms Democrats have initiated over the past three years, he added.
For the gambling industry in New Hampshire enduring plummeting revenues over recent years, slot machines at the three state racetracks are seen as its only salvation. Millennium Gaming, a Las Vegas company, has spent more than $140,000 in the last 18 months for a prominent Concord lobbying firm. Other lobbyists also have been working for the effort, and a media campaign has been launched, urging voters to call their state representatives and tell them to vote for video gambling.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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