New Seabrook Park’s owners have unveiled their willingness to become one of the 10 brick-and-mortar venues in the state of New Hampshire to offer sports betting services.
The beginning of the week saw the town’s selectmen vote unanimously to back the request of Eureka Casino to file a warrant article at the Town Meeting which is set to take place on March 10th, 2020, to ask local voters to give the green light to sports betting in Seabrook.
Back in January this year, the casino operator bought the facility situated on a 75-acre piece of land on Route 107.
A representative of the New Seabrook Park, Bill McLaughlin, told Seabrook selectmen at the beginning of the week that the casino company would like to get one of the sports betting licenses in the state but in order for this to happen, getting approval at the March 2020 Town Meeting was the first step.
Governor Chris Sununu signed House Bill 480 into law in July 2019, a move which made New Hampshire one of the US states which legalized sports betting services following the 2018 ruling of the US Supreme Court which lifted the nationwide ban on this type of gambling. Under the provisions of House Bill 480, betting on professional sports and most college sports included in Division I was made legal. Betting on games involving New Hampshire schools remains banned.
Max 10 Retail and 5 Online Sports Betting Licenses Allowed in the State
Under the above-mentioned piece of legislation, a new Division of Sports Betting is used by the New Hampshire Lottery Commission to regulate the local sports betting sector and grant up to 10 sports betting operation licenses within new or existing retail operations. Also, the state’s regulator would be able to grant up to 5 licenses for online sports betting operations.
Cities and towns across the state need to vote in favor of sports betting so that they are considered to host retail establishments where sports betting is offered.
Mr. McLaughlin from New Seabrook Park has reminded that a number of cities and towns, including Manchester, Dover and Laconia have shared their interest to host sports betting facilities. Still, in his opinion, New Seabrook Park has an advantage to other candidates for a sports betting license because it already has a location which is suitable for this kind of gambling services.
Still, New Seabrook Park is not the only facility which is pushing for sports betting operating license. According to reports, Hampton selectmen are considering filing a warrant article at the request of Ocean Gaming at Hampton Beach. Mr. McLaughlin, on the other hand, has revealed that all the major companies that are considered as the top competitors for running retail and mobile sports betting operations in the state have already gotten in contact with the New Seabrook Park.
Companies which are bidding for retail sports betting contracts will have to provide a list with up to 10 locations for sportsbooks in the state.
