NH: Stand With Us At Reps Hall, Wednesday, March 28, 8:00 am

Granite State Coalition
Against Expanded Gambling

Casino backers have delayed this day for over one year, but our big test of 2011-2012 is finally here. And we all need to pitch in to make this a win.


On Wednesday, March 28, the House will finally vote on HB-593, a bill that would hyper-saturate our fair state with four casinos and 14,000 slot machines.


Call Your Reps Today
Hit Reply and let me know your residence town and any other towns in which you or your organization have influence. I will forward you names and numbers of one or two Reps who would benefit from your call.

A brief and respectful phone message is perfectly fine and will take but a few minutes of your time. If you prefer, you can find all your Reps' phone numbers here.

Stand With Us At Reps Hall, Wednesday, March 28, 8:00 am

If you want to do more and have some fun, join us on Wednesday, March 28 at 8:00 am. We will stand outside the doors to Representatives Hall on the second floor of the State House in Concord. We will greet members of the House, handing them a flyer asking for their NO votes on HB-593.

RSVP if you can make it. Free No-Slots T-shirts for all comers.

Please Pass This Message on To All Interested

Key Negatives of HB-593

Biggest New Tax in 20 Years. HB-593 contains the biggest new tax since the Business Enterprise Tax was imposed 20 years ago. This tax would suck as much money out the NH consumer economy as would a 3-4% retail sales tax.

Anti-Liberty. HB-593 would divert $200 million each year from the private NH economy into the hands of Concord government to use to dole out favors.

Gambling Monopoly Distorts Free Market. Four entities would be given monopolies on slot machines and high-stakes table games, the monopoly profits from which are used to subsidize rooms, meals, entertainment, retailing, and transportation, subjecting existing NH business to unfair competition.

Cannibalizes Existing NH Business. Four bigger, flashier Massachusetts casinos will saturate New England, limiting the NH market to lower-end convenience operations attracting mostly nearby residents. Rather than bringing promised tourism and out of state money, NH casinos would heavily displace revenues and jobs from existing NH businesses.

Y0-Yo BET/BPT Tax Rates. HB-593's Rube Goldberg tax provisions would cause business tax rates to bounce up and down unpredictably every year.

Slot Machine Overkill. The 14,000 slot machines permitted would make NH the sixth most slot-machine saturated state per capita. NH's highly valuable, healthy, family-friendly brand image would be damaged if our state were saturated with slot machines.

The Great Give Away. HB-593 was written almost verbatim by lobbyists for a Las Vegas casino company and treats legislators like suckers. No bid licenses. No state revenue for license flips. Perpetual licenses. No minimum investment required. Give away tax rates.

Corruption of the Legislature. Like in every other casino state, the casino lobby would become the most powerful special interest in the State House and would corrupt our cherished citizen legislature with casino money.

Anti-Family. HB-593 would destroy families and communities by increasing divorce, bankruptcy, and gambling addiction. This is why Cornerstone Policy Research and nearly every faith organization in our state oppose this bill.

Regressive Tax. HB-593 imposes a massive, new regressive tax that would come from the pockets of already hard-pressed NH families.

Charities NOT Protected. The Byzantine charity hold-harmless provisions in HB-593 would force charities to lobby the Concord every year for their budgets and would freeze out new charities addressing new needs and existing charities facing growing needs.

Crime Increase. The NH Gaming Study Commission (page 83) found that even one Salem or Hudson casino would cause an additional 1,200 serious crimes each year against innocent victims. Shopping malls and parks do not cause gambling addiction and related crimes. The NH Association of Chiefs of Police and every NH Attorney General for the past 35 years have opposed legalized casinos because they increase serious crime.

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