Gambling in Laconia? Some see favorable odds

LACONIA — Casino-style gambling is starting to grow in New Hampshire, and local business owners are interested in a piece of the action. At least, they’ve been interested enough to inquire about it at City Hall.

That’s what City Manager Kirk Beattie said at a city council meeting earlier this month. He also said he wasn’t quite sure how to advise interested entrepreneurs, because there aren’t currently any zones in the city that expressly permit gambling.

In New Hampshire, gambling, including casino-style table gaming, is legal as long as a portion of the proceeds are directed toward charities.

The gambling industry in New Hampshire is modest in size. A list of locations for “games of chance,” on the website for the NH Lottery Commission, shows 14 licensed sites. Most are in the southern half of the state, though the Lakes Region Casino in Belmont is listed.

Odds are good that number will rise, though, particularly in light of a recent piece of legislation. Known as Senate Bill 120, and sponsored by Sen. Tim Lang (R-Sanbornton), it was signed into law earlier this year and went into effect on July 1.

The law raises the limits of how much individual players can gamble per wager, from $10 to $50, and how much a player can spend in total, from $150 to $2,500, in a game of chance. Also relaxed is how frequently a gaming facility must renew its license, from yearly to once every three years.

“We see it coming into Concord, we see it in Nashua. I think the people that own establishments that fit this particular bill are looking at it as a positive potential move for them,” Beattie said in a follow-up interview. He said he’s heard directly from a couple of local business owners interested in gaming, and has heard second-hand that other city officials are fielding similar inquiries.

However, gambling isn’t an activity currently accounted for in the city’s zoning. At the council meeting where this topic was discussed, it was the consensus of the council for the matter to be taken up by the council’s Government Operations Committee, which could decide if gambling would be allowed under another existing activity, such as entertainment.

The Government Operations Committee is due to meet at 2 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 25, in the City Council chamber.

“We have to decide, how does it fit into current city ordinances?” Beattie said. “I think what’s driving it is there’s an opportunity that’s untapped now, it’s drawing requests for us to look into whether it’s something that we could do.”