Sports betting hits a record in NH — again
Kevin Landrigan
Sports betting hit a record in New Hampshire’s most recent state budget year while also attracting the third-most revenue per capita in the nation.
The $39 million in net profit for public education for the fiscal year that ended June 30 broke the previous mark of $37 million for the year ending in mid-2023.
“New Hampshire continues to be the sports betting hub of the Northeast, and we just refuse to stop building on our success,” said Charlie McIntyre, executive director of the New Hampshire Lottery.
“We are extremely proud to have delivered a record amount of funding to support public education — maximizing revenue to support the students, teachers and schools of our state is what drives us every day.”
All told there were 27 million wages placed in the state totaling more than $815 million bet on sport contests.
Both those totals were up 9% over the previous year.
Sports betting began in New Hampshire on Dec. 30, 2019. Since then, a total of more than 107 million wagers have been placed totaling nearly $5 billion, producing $153 million in total state support for public schools.
The Super Bowl in football and March Madness, the college basketball tournament, became the most popular bets, totaling more than $27.5 million for those two events.
Some analysts questioned when McIntyre led the effort to forge an exclusive relationship with DraftKings as the sole vendor to process all sports bets. Most states have multiple vendors where, their regulators argue, helps create a competitive and more lucrative environment.
Currently, sports betting is legal in 38 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
Industry officials identify New Hampshire and Rhode Island as only two of four states with a single vendor.
But New Hampshire’s net profit continues to be a pace setter even after neighboring Massachusetts legalized sports betting with two massive casinos in Everett and Springfield in that state.
“Looking ahead, we are anticipating continued growth in mobile sports betting, as players get more comfortable with new offerings, including live betting opportunities, and as DraftKings continues to develop innovative new products that appeal to our players,” McIntyre said. “We’re also anticipating increases in retail sports betting, particularly with the opening of The Nash Casino (in Nashua), which features a beautiful, two-story DraftKings sportsbook.”
The Lottery also set a single monthly record last November with more than $75 million wagered thanks to Thanksgiving NFL games spread out between Thursday and Friday of that week and five Saturdays of college football.
The new state budget’s trailer bill changes state support for addicted gamblers, first by repealing a state council for responsible gaming.
The budget also directs the Lottery Commission to create a centralized, voluntary statewide self-exclusive database, allowing recovering gambling addicts to put themselves on a list barring them from any legal games that the Lottery operates.
The process in the bill calls for the governor and council to select an outside industry agent through a competitive bid that will build and manage that database.
The budget also legalizes betting on slot machines at state-licensed charity casinos, replacing historic horse racing machines that are more expensive to operate and can’t process bets as quickly as slots.
The state will get 30.75% of gross revenue from slot machines and it gives 35% of that tax to charities sponsoring the games.
The budget directs 0.25% of slots revenue to go to the Governor’s Commission on Addiction, Treatment, and Prevention to support programs for addicted gamblers.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte first proposed the slots change that she said should generate up to an additional $100 million in revenue per year to help balance the budget.
The budget further changes the name of McIntyre’s agency to the New Hampshire Lottery and Gaming Commission, though it permits past references to the state lottery in state law and elsewhere to remain in place.
