Lawmakers debate gambling, but poker already booming in N.H.

SALEM, N.H. --While lawmakers in Concord debate legalizing gambling, a night at Salem's Rockingham Park shows poker is already alive and openly thriving in New Hampshire.

On a busy night at the race track, players crowd the poker room, wagering thousands on Texas Hold 'Em and other games. It's legal because the games are hosted by charities that have been licensed to hold them as fundraisers. Charities say poker tournaments are good fundraising tools, but gaming operators' share of the profits are prompting some critics to question whether "charity gaming" really is what's happening.

In New Hampshire, about 300 groups are licensed by the Pari-Mutuel Commission to host poker games at 16 approved venues. By law, after players take home their winnings, charities are entitled to at least 35 percent of the profits. That means private game operators -- the companies that provide dealers and run the games -- reap the largest share.

Rep. Michael Marsh, D-Greenland, who is on a legislative panel studying the possibility of legalizing gambling, believes charitable gaming has grown from small-scale poker nights that mixed fundraising with socializing into events where the focus is on the games, not the charities.

"This has nothing to do with that. It's all about gambling," he said.

It's hard to put a dollar figure on New Hampshire's charitable gaming industry, though it's largely agreed that the figure is growing.

From 1996 to 2006, when the attorney general's office oversaw charitable gaming, nonprofits made about $3 million from the games, said Audrey Blodgett, a paralegal in the attorney general's charitable trust division. She said charitable fundraising through Texas Hold 'Em tournaments began to surge in 2001 or 2002, when tournaments began airing on television.

Last year the Pari-Mutuel Commission took over regulating charitable gaming, a move designed to increase state oversight of the burgeoning industry. Commission director Paul Kelley estimates the annual handle -- the amount that players pay to play -- at $50 million. Most of that money goes back to players as prize money. At Rockingham Park, for example, that figure is anywhere from 75 percent to 90 percent. Using Kelley's estimate and the minimum 35 percent payout required by law, that puts the amount earned by charities in the past year at about $4 million.

Lynne Snierson, the spokeswoman for Rockingham Park, said charities have been known to make $10,000 in one night through the games. Since the track began hosting poker 13 months ago the games have raised $1 million for about 30 charity groups, and there is a waiting list of 30 more groups vying to host poker at the track, she said.

"It's an enormous help to us," said Richard O'Shaughnessy, executive director of Greater Salem Caregivers, which provides transportation to the elderly and individuals with disabilities. His group hosts 10 poker nights a year at Rockingham Park. "This has helped us build up a good solid foundation as far as our finances are concerned," he said.
It's also a big help to the businesses that facilitate the games.

Venues like Rockingham Park earn rental and concession fees.

Salem-based Granite State Poker, a gaming operator, has seen business grow dramatically. Granite State Poker's payroll has grown to include more than 150 dealers as it runs games for non-profits six nights of the week at the track, said Carl Cincotti, a company employee. Gaming operators pay $500 a year for a state license.

This kind of growth prompted lawmakers last year to mandate that a minimum percentage of profits make it into the hands of hosting charities.

"What was driving the legislation was that some charities were holding these evenings and getting nothing, and the operators were getting everything," said Rep. Neal Kurk, R-Weare.

But Kurk's concern over gambling goes deeper -- to what he sees as a conflict with core New Hampshire values.

"I'm caught in the same bind most of us are," Kurk said. "On the one hand, yes, gambling is something that some people enjoy doing; it's a good source of revenue for charities." But the gaming "goes against the cultural grain in New Hampshire," he said. "It's something in our ethos that says you should work for your money and it shouldn't come as a result from betting."

While scratch tickets, bingo games, dogs and horse racing have long been fixtures in the state, the Legislature has drawn the line at slot machines and games of chance that don't benefit charities.

Lawmakers on both sides of the gambling debate say expanding betting would bring big changes to the state.

While charity poker games don't generate tax dollars for the state, advocates for slot machines at Rockingham Park say those would raise millions for the state.

Marsh said he would like charities to earn more cash by increasing the required payout from 35 percent to 51 percent. A tax on the games is another option, he said.

"In my view, most of the money should go to the charities. It's supposed to be for charities, not for operators," Marsh said.

Concord Monitor

News Added: 15 October, 2007

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