New Hampshire: More sense than Beacon Hill

From our friends and neighbors up north at the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling --

Thank you for your calls to our Executive Councilors ... and thank you to the New Hampshire Executive Council.

This afternoon, the EC voted 5-0 to kill the proposed "Late Item" contracts with gambling industry consultants to design a regulatory structure for potential future slot casinos.

It turns out that the rejected contracts would have totaled $50,000, but over coming months would have mounted to $250,000, had the Council approved. Worse, the money to pay for these contracts would have been diverted from state aid to local education.

In discussion before their vote, all five Councilors instructed the Lottery Commission and the NH Gaming Regulatory Oversight Authority to spend less money on casino consultants, to steer clear of cart-before-the-horse efforts to grease the way for slot machines, and to focus instead on improving and streamlining regulation of ONLY the types of gambling we now have.

GSCAEG strongly supports the direction articulated by the Executive Council and is happy to work with the Lottery Commission, the Gaming Authority, and the legislature to assure passage of any necessary legislation to better regulate and reduce regulation cost of gambling we now have.



Pssstttt...our friends up north conducted an Independent Cost Benefit Analysis. Maybe Massachusetts should do likewise.