New Hampshire’s hopes for 2025 online casino legalization may have gotten a bit brighter. As state Sen. Timothy P. Lang Sr. works to advance the legislation, a once powerful iGaming opponent declined to run for re-election. State Rep. Laurie Sanborn headed the committee that killed Lang’s previous bill.
Many speculate that Sanborn, who headed the House Ways and Means Committee that unanimously voted to kill Lang’s 2023 iGaming bill, declined to seek re-election due to her husband’s legal troubles relating to their casino. That means her tenure ends in less than two months.
Meanwhile, Andy Sanborn‘s extensive courtroom struggles began in August 2023. In the latest development, Attorney General John M. Formella announced on Oct. 16 that his office arrested Andy Sanborn and charged him with theft by deception, a Class A felony. Formella’s office said Andy Sanborn — the owner of Win Win Win, doing business as Concord Casino — allegedly “distorted the casino’s gross receipts” to receive $188,474.33 more in state grant money for Covid relief than he should’ve gotten.
On Oct. 21, Lang — R-Sanbornton — told Bonus that he’s working on 2025 online casino legislation.
I am talking to various people — including the gaming operators, as well as the charities — to see if there is a path forward. I would like to introduce the bill, but I need to do it in a way that will expand Liberty without hurting the economics of the industry.
In New Hampshire, land-based casinos are classified as charitable gaming because a portion of the proceeds go to charities. Many who testified against Lang’s bill claimed that New Hampshire online casinos would pull revenue away from casinos and, therefore, charities.
Lang said to Bonus on Oct. 21:
I want to make the activity (gaming online) legal, but not hurt the charities nor industry. [I’m] still trying to see how that might work.
Concord Casino may remain among those charitable gaming facilities if Andy Sanborn can sell the business.
Annmarie Timmins of the New Hampshire Bulletin reported on Oct. 21 that Andy Sanborn’s lawyers are seeking more time to sell Concord Casino because a potential buyer hasn’t yet received gaming license approval.
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