Gambling Supporters Dispute Nonprofits' Claim

By Elaine Grant on Monday, June 15, 2009.

Some New Hampshire nonprofits are protesting a Senate budget proposal for expanded gambling.

They say their charitable games would suffer under competition from video slot machines.

But as NHPR’s Elaine Grant reports, gambling proponents say video slots wouldn’t hurt nonprofits.

The Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling says a proposal to allow 13,000 video slot machines at four New Hampshire facilities would threaten nonprofits’ ability to earn their own charitable gaming revenues.

The coalition, which includes representatives from nonprofits ranging from the Dover Rotary Club to the Senior Olympics, says if gamblers have a choice between winning $50 at a bingo game or much larger purses from slot machines, slots will win.

But gambling proponents say that’s not so.

Millenium Gaming is a Las Vegas company that wants to bring 5,000 slot machines to Salem’s Rockingham Park.

Millenium spokesperson Rich Killion says 36 charities, including the Child Advocacy Center and the Salem Historical Society, ran games at Rockingham Park last year.

Killion1.wav: “In 2008 alone, they received $1.8 million.”

Killion says Rockingham will continue to allow charities to run table games, like poker, at the park.