New Hampshire
New Hampshire bill introduced to legalize online casino gaming
Ollie is an experienced writer covering everything from esports to regulatory developments in the USA. He loves obscure data points and the occasional lousy parlay on 20 tennis players which inevitably loses.
All posts by Ollie RingUpdated10 hours ago on April 27, 2024
New Hampshire lawmakers have introduced Bill SB104, looking to legalize online gaming. The bill proposes that all net proceeds from online gaming will be directed to a newly established community college education scholarship fund.
The bill not only defines online gaming and casino, but it also provides the initial terms and conditions for the college education scholarship fund. It stipulates which students will be eligible, and how much they could potentially be eligible for.
Who would be eligible for the New Hampshire scholarship and how much would they receive?
A few key financial criteria lifted from the bill relating to the New Hampshire scholarships are as follows:
- A person shall have an annual household income at the time the student applies for the program of less than or equal to 300 percent of the federal poverty guidelines as updated annually in the Federal Register by the United States Department of Health and Human Services under 42 U.S.C. section 9902(2). No income threshold need be met in subsequent years, provided the student otherwise qualifies.
- All scholarship funds shall be distributed to the eligible student by the eligible institution. The institution shall include the scholarship in the student’s financial aid package and may seek subsequent reimbursement. The state shall provide the reimbursements twice per year to each eligible institution for the number of eligible students enrolled in the current semester or term who are receiving a scholarship. The institution shall submit the list of scholarship recipients to the board of trustees or its designee no later than November 30 and April 30 of each academic year, and shall be reimbursed within 30 days of submission.
- An eligible student may receive a scholarship in the amount of half the cost of tuition per year provided he or she maintains at least a 2.0 grade point average. An eligible student may receive a scholarship in the amount of the full cost of tuition per year provided he or she maintains at least a 2.5 grade point average. The eligible institution shall not reduce any merit or need-based grant aid that would have otherwise been provided to the eligible student. An eligible student may receive an annual scholarship for a maximum of 2 years.
The bill for online gambling is put forward by Sen. Timothy Lang, who was responsible for the bill that legalized sports betting in the state back in 2019. He has said that he patterned the bill on the previously approved sports betting legislation.
How much money could iGaming make for NH?
The bill includes the following ambitious forecasts for Gross Gaming Revenue and as such tax (at a rate of 35%) and revenue to the scholarship fund.
| FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026 | |
| Gross Gaming Revenue | $15,000,000 | $60,000,000 | $90,000,000 |
| Tax Revenue to State (35%) | $5,250,000 | $21,000,000 | $31,500,000 |
| Less: Lottery Commission Administrative Costs | ($160,000) | ($633,000) | ($621,000) |
| Net Revenue to Scholarship Fund | $5,090,000 | $20,367,000 | $30,879,000 |
The above calculations are based on revenue analysis undertaken by the Lottery Commission. The Commission used other states in which iGaming is legal to benchmark prospective New Hampshire revenue upon launch and thus drill down into potential revenue share for the proposed Scholarship Fund.
| Jurisdiction | FY 2023 GGR (estimated) | Comparison to NH Market | Implied NH GGR | Implied NH Revenue Share at 35% |
| New Jersey | $1.66 billion | 12x larger | $138 million | $48.3 million |
| Pennsylvania | $1.3 billion | 9x larger | $144 million | $50.4 million |
| Michigan | $1.43 billion | 7x larger | $204 million | $71 million |
| Connecticut | $226 million | 2x larger | $113 million | $39.5 million |
The four States reviewed have the following common features:
- Established casino industry
- Sports betting markets containing multiple licensees that cross-sell sports bettors into iGaming
New Hampshire, on the other hand, does not have large scale casinos and also has a single operator running the online sports betting market. As such as the prediction is that New Hampshire would lag behind the four comparison markets and reach maturity in 2027. The figures still seem optimistic, but iGaming has proved a huge success in states where it has launched. Delaware was also not included in the analysis as it ‘behaves differently’ from the others, and has not had such great success.
It’ll be interesting to see if the bill moves through the Senate and whether or not New Hampshire becomes the latest state to enter the iGaming world.
