A week after indicting former state Sen. Andy Sanborn on pandemic aid fraud charges, the Attorney General's Office announced Friday that it has brought identical charges against his Concord Casino.
The new charges pose the greatest threat yet to Sanborn’s ability to sell his casino. A conviction of the felony theft charges would prohibit the casino from holding a gaming license for 10 years. While it’s unclear whether that same license loss would pass onto a new owner, the Attorney General’s Office has refused to assure Sanborn’s buyer that it won’t.
A conviction would also have implications for the state. Concord Casino has access to the last available historic horse racing license to offer slot-like games for at least the next seven years. Lawmakers set a moratorium on new licenses this year to give the relatively new market time to grow.
While the state shares in all charitable gaming revenue, historic horse racing earns it much more than table games like poker and blackjack do. In August, the state collected about $640,000 from table games and $2.7 million from historic horse racing, according to the New Hampshire Lottery Commission. That revenue is used to fund public education.
The Attorney General’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Sanborn’s attorney Zachary Hafer accused the state Friday of attempting to thwart a sale by indicting the casino separately from Sanborn.
“Given that Win Win Win is a single-member LLC whose single member is Mr. Sanborn, the Attorney General cannot (and does not) allege that Win Win Win took any action distinct from Mr. Sanborn,” Hafer wrote in an email. “There is thus only one reason to charge Win Win Win: to attempt to block a sale of Win Win Win that would benefit taxpayers, charities, and the local community. This is a deeply concerning development and we look forward to holding the AG accountable in court.”
Sanborn is scheduled to be arraigned in Merrimack County Superior Court Tuesday.
He has not identified his buyer publicly, though his lawyers have disclosed that the person has applied for a gaming license. The buyer has been waiting since at least September for a decision from the state on his application.
The indictments charge Win Win Win, the casino’s registered name, with theft by deception and theft by unauthorized taking. The state indicted Sanborn on the same charges for the same alleged activity earlier this month.
The charges announced Friday allege that in 2020, the casino defrauded the Main Street Relief Fund, a federal pandemic assistance program, of nearly $190,000 by misrepresenting its losses to qualify for a larger payout. As a result, state prosecutors allege the casino received $286,600, $188,474 more than it should have.
The indictments also allege that the casino misrepresented that it had been in operation at least a year, an eligibility requirement, when it had not.
These charges are distinct from the fraud investigation the state launched into Sanborn nearly 14 months ago.
In that case, the Attorney General’s Office alleges Sanborn misrepresented the nature of his company to obtain nearly $844,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loans, a different pandemic relief fund that was not open to casinos. The state also alleges Sanborn used the money to enrich himself, including spending $181,125 on race cars, two Porsches and a Ferrari.
Neither Sanborn nor his casino have been charged in connection with that investigation. But that case prompted the New Hampshire Lottery Commission and the Attorney General’s Office to move to revoke the casino’s gaming license last year.
An administrative law judge overseeing the case suspended the casino’s license instead and ordered Sanborn to close the business by January. Sanborn has been trying to close a deal since. The judge set a September deadline for a sale but the judge who took over the case this year has given Sanborn additional time, with no clear deadline as of yet.
Judge Gregory Albert ruled in September that the loss to the charities that benefited from partnering with Concord Casino was significant enough to grant Sanborn more time to sell. During its last year in business, the casino provided nearly 30 charities about $170,000 last year in revenue from Concord Casino before the state shut it down in December.
The Attorney General’s Office is challenging Albert’s finding.
