State Take Is 10 Percent Less In New D’Allesandro Gambling Bill

Senate Bill 489.

That’s the number for Senator Lou D’Allesandro’s latest effort to bring slots to New Hampshire.  Unlike the House where all bills had to be out a month ago, Senate bills follow a more leisurely path, and the new gambling bill has just been unveiled.

In fact, while it’s available on line now, it’s at the printers and is not yet available in paper form.

A cursory reading of the 38-page bill leads one to believe it has something for just about everyone who wants expanded gambling:  5000 slots for Rockingham Park, 2000 for the former/current dog tracks, two north country facilities with up to 2000 slots apiece, and just for good measure, the Hudson plan (call it the Clegg/Emiro plan in honor of former Senator Bob Clegg and current Rep Emiro) which calls for a full blown golf resort, convention center and gaming table casino “in a town along the Massachusetts border in Hillsborough County”.

Hey, that sounds like Hudson without using the word Hudson.

Like last year, entry “fees” for the casino rights are steep:  $50 million for the Rock and Hudson, $20 million for the North Country and track facilities.

In recognition of the virtual death of dog racing and horse racing being on life support systems, the new bill does not require that the tracks actually conduct live racing.   Simulcasting will do.

Interestingly, three House Republicans are co-sponsoring the D’Allesandro bill, Lynn Ober from–would you believe–Hudson; Ed Gionet from Lincoln; and James Rausch from Derry.  Two House Democrats sponsoring the bill are Nashua’s Jane Clemons, apparently bucking House leadership (she’s chair of the Election Law committee) and Paul Ingersoll from Berlin.  Hmm…Berlin and Lincoln, two North Country casinos!

Four Democrats (Lasky and Gilmour from Nashua; Devries from Manchester, and Sgambati from Laconia) join the usual Senate Republicans Gallus (Berlin) and Downing (Salem) as co-sponsors.

Unlike the House which limits sponsors to five, as many senators as want may sign on to a bill.  The fact that there are only seven senators may not bode well for the bill, but then most people at the State House don’t expect it to pass in its initial form.  Like last year, it’s believed the Senate will hold the bill.  When and if the House sends over a budget repair bill…Viola…Can anyone say committee of conference stalemate again?

That more things change, the more things remain the same.

Wait, wait…it does appear the state’s take has gone down, from 49 percent a year ago to 39 percent this year, just as anti-gambling advocate Jim Rubens had predicted.

Meanwhile, lobbyist filings in the Secretary of State’s office for the final quarter of 2009 reveal that big bucks are being spent to get the gambling proposal passed.  Manchester lobbyist Dan Callahan (who likes to refer to himself as the 25th senator) reports just shy of $144,000 from Rockingham Park (did he write the D’Allesandro bill?) and another $150,000 from Yankee Greyhound (the Seabrook Track).   Millenium reports paying economist Lisa Shapiro (she of the state retirement board?) $24,000 for her work.

Don’t feel sorry for lobbyist Jim Demers (lobbyist or the 26th senator?).  He reports $106,500 from Cannery Casino Resorts (Millenium by another name).  Belmont lobbyist Rick Newman earlier reported $34,664 for his efforts and former House Speaker George Roberts raked in $27,500 from Yankee Greyhound.

Former WMUR news personality Scott Spradling filed as a Millenium lobbyists, but I couldn’t find a total he was paid.  You try looking through those filing reports for a couple hours….help me out here!