United States - New Hampshire just became the 14th state in the United States to legalize sports betting, after the Governor, Chris Sununu, signed House Bill 480.
The law was first given the green light by the legislature before the last session back in June adjourned. The bill was revised thrice through this process, and it took several weeks for it to finally reach the governor’s desk.
To date, there are now six states that have received authorization for a sports betting bill in 2019. Nine states have been operating sportsbooks while seven others, as well as the district of Washington DC, have pending sports betting launches.
The New Hampshire sports betting scene will be regulated by the new Division of Sports Wagering, a department that is operating within the New Hampshire Lottery Commission. State lotteries also play a crucial role in sports betting expansion in several states such as West Virginia.
There will be retail sportsbooks as well as mobile sports betting, which means that sports betting will be extensive in the state. In all, there will be a total of 15 licenses that would be up for grabs. Five of the licenses would be for retail operations, while the remaining 10 would be set aside for online operators. A competitive bidding process would determine who receives the said licenses.
No all-encompassing solid revenue share deal will be set as part of the bill. Instead, the Lottery would be able to discuss the terms with each of the licensees.
Anyone who is at least 18 years old would be able to place a sports bet and register for a mobile sports betting account. In a lot of other states, bettors are firstly required to go to a physical location to sign up for their account. In-play bets can only be wagered through online sportsbooks, and there would be no betting on events that involve New Hampshire colleges, or college events that are taking place in the state.
There are hopes from one of the bill sponsors, Representative Timothy Lang, that some of the limitations could possibly be amended later on.
New Hampshire is a small state, boasting of a population of around 1.3 million people. There are no casinos in the region, but there are some smaller-scale gambling operations that provide forms of casino gaming such as roulette, craps, and blackjack.
The racetracks no longer stage races but actually operate as racinos, and the state lottery is popular. However, there is hope that legalizing sports betting would have a considerable impact on the fortunes of the state. Tax revenues from the activity would be greatly received. The state is also using this as a vehicle to stop illegal sports betting from taking place.
