Casino appeals Conway about denial of permit

CONWAY — The Conway Poker Room & Casino is appealing Deputy Town Manager Paul DegliAngeli’s denial of its proposal to turn the former Tiney’s Market at the Shurfine Plaza into a charitable gaming facility.

DegliAngeli told the selectboard in June he had written to the casino’s attorney, John Cronin of Cronin, Bisson & Zalinsky of Manchester, to say that he had approved the restaurant/sports pub with indoor amusements permit but denied the casino aspect of the zoning permit submitted May 31.

This came after a number of approvals issued by Conway town officials who have since either retired or quit were overturned by the town zoning department in the wake of complaints filed to halt the project.

“We took our indoor amusement ordinance, put it in the letter and said, 'This is what indoor amusement means in the town of Conway. It does not mean gambling casino and that’s not permitted at this location,'” DegliAngeli told the selectboard.

On July 12, the casino filed an appeal to the zoning board of adjustment. The ZBA will hear the appeal on Aug. 16.

Up until now, Bedford developer Dick Anagnost was the face of the project. However, a new name appears on the appeal paperwork. Stefan Huba is now listed as owner along with Conway Poker Room & Casino LL.

Anagnost spokesperson Tiffany Eddy said Anagnost is still “very much involved” but that Huba is the “project lead and owner’s agent.”

Eddy said the Conway Poker Room & Casino would be similar to Filotimo Casino & Restaurant, which has locations in Manchester and Dover. Its website notes the casinos offer poker, table games, bingo and NH Lottery.

The Dover and Manchester locations have DraftKings sports betting and keno, but Conway voters have repeatedly rejected proposals to allow keno or sports betting in town.

Huba’s Linkedin account says he’s chief development officer at the Dover-based New Hampshire Group, which his profile describes as a “premiere developer and operator of hospitality and charitable gaming facilities in the state of New Hampshire.”

Huba also lists himself as chief development officer for Peninsula Pacific Entertainment. Huba uses a P2E email on the paperwork.

Huba’s address is listed on the paperwork as 887B Central Ave. in Dover. That address happens to be that of the Filotimo Casino and DraftKings Sportsbook at Dover Bowl.

Addresses.com shows a Stefan T. Huba living in Midlothian, Virginia. The landline associated with that residence has been disconnected.

According to Wikipedia, Peninsula Pacific Entertainment is a casino gaming company based in Los Angeles. It began operations in 1999, doing business through a subsidiary, Peninsula Gaming. Its holdings grew to five properties, until 2012, when Peninsula Gaming was sold to Boyd Gaming for $1.45 billion. A Business Wire release lists casino properties the company owned in 2011, including the Diamond Jo Casino in Dubuque, Iowa; the Amelia Belle Casino in Amelia, La.; and opening in 2012, the Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane, Kans. In January 2013, P2E partnered with Warner Gaming in developing the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City, becoming 50 percent owners of the property. In 2022, it sold the bulk of its assets to Churchill Downs, Inc. for $2.8 billion.

Cronin issued a 67-paragraph appeal of the administrative decision. In it, he argues that the project was approved twice before DegliAngeli got involved. He said the project, calling for a “sports pub with charitable gaming” was given building permit in March of 2021.

A permit had been approved in 2021 by a previous town planner, Tom Irving, but it had expired.

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Cronin said $500,000 worth of work was done to the building after that permit was issued but then construction stopped during the pandemic.

On Jan. 9, a permit signed by now retired Conway Building Inspector Dave Pandora, and approved by former Town Planner Jamel Torres, who quit in May, was issued to developer Dick Anagnost’s company, A.W. Rose, to “renovate the former grocery store and adjoining suite into [a] sports pub with charitable gaming”

Over the winter, DegliAngeli said town staff approved the building permit with the idea that the project was a “small undertaking” as the exterior wasn’t changing and traffic from a casino was thought to be less than that generated by a grocery store.

Cronin said after the building permit was issued, construction continued. However, Conway Planning Board member Mark Hounsell and abutter Becky Mulkern objected to the more recent permit, saying they believed it was granted in error.

Cronin’s appeal document cites Hounsell as the main reason why the town shut down construction in February. The revocation was apparently prompted by Mark Hounsell, a Planning Board member ... who is lobbying for the town to get a take of the charitable gaming revenue,” said Cronin.

In April, Anagnost went before the planning board for an “informal” discussion of the project, said Cronin.

The planning board told Anagnost to submit a zoning permit application. Cronin, in a letter to the selectboard, said the casino’s ownership asked the selectmen to handle the application and that selectmen shouldn’t delegate anyone to review it. Instead, selectmen delegated DegliAngeli to review the application.

“Contrary to the decisions of two prior building officials, the Deputy Manager concluded that the proposed use was not allowed in Conway,” said Cronin. “The decision of the Deputy Manager, acting as the Administrative Official is in error, contradictory to the decisions of other Administrative Officials, inconsistent with the Zoning Ordinance and inconsistent with New Hampshire law. The Applicant respectfully requests that the Zoning Board of Adjustment reverse the decision of Deputy Manager DegliAngeli.”

What’s more, said Cronin, local control of charitable gaming facilities doesn’t exist because the state has jurisdiction to control where these facilities go, not the town.

“Regulation of charity games of chance are vested exclusively in the State of New Hampshire and no power has been delegated to the communities,” said Cronin. “The State of New Hampshire Lottery Commission issued a license to conduct charitable gaming on the property... Conway has no local control.”

But Cronin said that’s not the end of the story. Even if Conway had local control over the location of the casino, it would still be allowed.

“In Conway and other communities, charity games of chance and historical horse racing are permitted as an incident to a restaurant serving alcohol,” said Cronin. “Conway followed the law and proper zoning ordinance on two separate occasions.”

Cronin asks that the zoning board reverse DegliAngeli’s decision or reinstate the building permit.

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Managing Editor Margaret McKenzie contributed to this article.