Lottery Commissioner Charlie McIntyre Sees Increased Revenue from Border Casinos Opening, Expanding

It’s a good bet there will be changes and possibly new revenues coming from and to charity casinos after a gangbuster report of the opening of The Nash casino this past week by the state lottery commissioner.

He spoke to a legislative committee on a bill related to the phasing out of historic horse racing and the advent of video lottery terminals on Monday.

Gov. Kelly Ayotte is also looking at this growing revenue source as a number of casino bills fly around Concord to help charitable organizations, the Education Trust Fund and the Group II retirement fund among others in a new, two-year budget.

It comes as revenue estimates for the state overall are trending downward.

There is demand and capacity to grow video lottery terminals but limits as well said Charlie McIntyre, executive director of the New Hampshire Lottery.

He testified on HB 728 which would phase out historic horse racing machines and replace their software with that of video gaming terminals in the next three years.

While opening nights have their predicted fanfare, McIntyre said he was really impressed by what he saw in Nashua last week.

He said he was there when Nash opened the doors for a "so-called soft opening” at the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua and that it was "packed” in an hour and people were waiting in line to use the machines.

He said based on that and other market conditions he sees, his revenue estimates for the bill were "wildly low” in January and new projected revenue numbers will be made available this week.

He told the House Ways and Means Committee about a third party report for a commission to look at gaming by the company Spectrum Gaming. It showed the market capacity for New Hampshire is 6,000 machines and with 3,600 operating as of this coming week, there would still be capacity to grow. 

The state has capped the number of casino licenses at 18 for the next seven years but the law did not specify a number of machines as that is dictated by individual business demands, the Spectrum report reads.

https://indepthnh.org/2025/03/10/lottery-commissioner-sees-increased-revenue-from-border-casinos-opening-expanding/