New Hampshire Senate advances online casino bill, with 35% of profits earmarked for scholarships

New Hampshire senators voted 13-11 on Monday to move Senate Bill 104, which would legalise online casino gaming in the state. For high-risk operators, the interesting part is not just the authorisation itself, but the split of net profits and the pushback from existing charity casinos.

1. SB 104 has now been sent to the Senate Finance Committee after clearing the Senate by a 13-11 vote. Ways and Means Chairman Tim Lang introduced the bill, and Senate President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, supports it.
2. Under the proposal, 35 per cent of net online casino profits would go to scholarships at the Community College System of New Hampshire, while 10 per cent would fund lottery administration costs. State lottery projections put revenue at US$ 5m in the first year, US$ 20 m in the second, and US$ 30 m by the third.
3. Republicans backed the bill 10-4, while Democrats opposed it 7-3. The thing is, this is not a clean partisan split so much as a familiar state-level gambling bill coalition: enough support to advance, not enough to make the politics disappear.
4. Opponents, including Sen. Bill Gannon, argue that igaming would divert revenue from New Hampshire’s 16 charity casinos. Churchill Downs, which owns Chasers Poker Room and Casino in Salem, is reportedly the only company to have publicly opposed the bill.
5. Lang’s position is that online gaming would create new revenue instead of cannibalising existing casino spend, and he points to New Jersey as the example. New Hampshire’s charitable gaming model already requires licensed operators to work with nonprofits, which receive a set share of proceeds from table games and historical horse racing.

For PSPs and acquiring teams, the practical signal here is that New Hampshire is considering an online casino framework with a defined revenue split and an existing charitable gaming base that is already protected politically. That combination usually means the bill’s next stages will be about distribution, not just legalisation.