Policy Points
The newsletter of the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies

December 2009

In this issue:

• Join Us on Our Blog and Social Media.
• New Research
• Accepting Online Donations

   

Join Us on Our Blog.

www.PolicyBlogNH.com

The Center's free and open exchange of opinions and commentary on the public policy issues facing New Hampshire. Our mission is to raise new ideas and improve public policy debates in our state through quality information and analysis.

Please visit www.nhpolicyblognh.org and use the comment option that appears at the bottom of each blog post.

You can also follow the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy on other social media including Twitter (@NHPublicPolicy) and on Facebook (NH Public Policy).

Recent posts to www.policyblognh.org:

• Looking Toward the Next Budget Conversation
• What Do November Estimates of State Revenue Mean?
• Bending the Cost Curve: Are Changes in Medicare Enough?

New Research

A Brief Report on Gambling in New Hampshire

The Center found:

• A minority of New Hampshire residents gamble at casinos. In 2008, an estimated 21% of New Hampshire residents gambled at a casino in the previous 12 months.
• A majority – 56% -- of New Hampshire residents participate in some form of gambling, when the definition of gambling includes scratch tickets and lotto games via the state lottery.
• Problem gambling exists in New Hampshire. National estimates suggest that somewhere between 1 and 2 percent of the population has a pathological gambling problem. Estimates on pathological gambling for New Hampshire residents are lower.
• The state lottery, charitable gambling, and pari-mutuel activities around the state generated slightly more than $70 million in state revenues.
• Gambling revenues represent approximately 3% of total unrestricted state revenues. This represents a significantly smaller share of the total revenues than existed in the past. In 1979, slightly more than 10% of unrestricted revenues were associated with gambling taxation.
• The gambling market in New England is currently in significant flux. Lottery revenues in New Hampshire have, like gambling revenues across the country, experienced a significant decline. Moreover, state demands for revenue have resulted in significant increase in the interest in expanded gambling, particularly in Massachusetts.

Sharing the Common Burden: New Hampshire and Public Services

The Center presents a comprehensive picture of public services in the state, a profile of where the burden of funding these services lies, and how it is changing over time. Over the last 5 years, this analysis suggests that the local property tax bears an increasing share of the costs of public services in New Hampshire at the municipal and county levels. At the State level an increasing share of appropriations are funded through the federal government.

Looking Toward the Next Budget Conversation

Presentation by Steve Norton to the New Hampshire Business and Industry Association Economic Development Committee on December 9, 2009.

Now Accepting Online Donations

Now you have a safe and convenient way to lend your support to the Center's work. We recently added a Donate button to our website.

By design, at least 50% of our funding comes from unrestricted donations, ensuring our independence and our ability to respond quickly to changing policy needs in the state.

We invite you to visit our website at www.nhpolicy.org and click on the gold "Donate" button. Thank you for your continued support.

Policy Points informs you about our current research topics, including highlights of the important policy discussions going on in and around the State of New Hampshire. Any links to other websites do not necessarily represent an endorsement of that organization by the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies.

To find out more, please visit us at www.nhpolicy.org