Policy Note: An Update on Expanded Gambling

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Brief Description

This paper is an update to the Center’s May 2010 report, “Analyzing the Impact of Expanded Gambling on New Hampshire.” Our goal here is to provide insight into the potential implications for New Hampshire of new casinos in Massachusetts, partly in response to a request from the House subcommittee that reviewed gambling legislation. We have updated our model to reflect financial changes – inflation, reductions in lottery revenues, and other factors – as well as developments in New England’s gambling landscape over the past two years. Most specifically, recently passed legislation in Massachusetts allows for three casinos and a slot machine parlor.

 Our models continue to suggest that expanded gambling in New Hampshire would bring a net economic benefit to the state – in terms of economic development and state revenues – even with new casinos in Massachusetts and after offsetting costs associated with pathological gambling. However, our model does not account for the potential negative effects of expanded gambling on New Hampshire’s “brand” and attractiveness as a destination for tourists and others nor does it consider the question of the proliferation of gambling activities or any political concerns associated with a single industry or organization playing such a large role in financing the state’s activities.