The Rebels restaurant inside the Revo Casino in Conway. (Courtesy of Revo Casino)
When Manchester developer Dick Anagnost opened a bingo hall to raise money for charity in 1998, he couldn’t have known he was planting the seed of what is expected to be a $1 billion charitable gaming industry in NH.
“The business you see today evolved out of that bingo hall 27 years ago,” says Anagnost, also president of the Charitable Gaming Operators Association of NH.
That industry reached new heights in early 2025. On Feb. 4, The Revo Casino and Social House opened in Conway, the latest addition to Revo’s portfolio that also includes locations in Dover, Lebanon, Manchester and Keene. Anagnost is a partner in the Revo operation. The state’s largest casino by size, The Nash, opened on March 5 at the site of the old Sears building in the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua. A week later, on March 12, the Lilac Club Casino celebrated its grand opening at the site of the old Lilac Mall in Rochester.
Table games and slot machine floor at Lilac Club (Matthew J. Mowry)
And other projects are in the works. On March 11, the Salem Planning Board approved the conversion of a former Lord & Taylor store at The Mall at Rockingham Park into a $160 million charitable gaming venue called Live! Around this same time, The Brook casino at the former greyhound racetrack in Seabrook was completing a major expansion and the owners of the Hampton Beach Casino complex received zoning variances to redevelop the historic property and expand its charitable gaming operations.
Meanwhile, smaller operations continued to draw gamblers in locations throughout the state. The movement began slowly in 2006 when the Legislature legalized charitable gaming run by for-profit companies and then more quickly with the 2019 legalization of sports betting. The bingo halls and Monte Carlo nights organized by nonprofits evolved into professionally run casino operations, 14 of which now dot the Granite
State landscape.
Explosive Growth Years in the Making
In a series of legislative and policy changes over several years, the table was set to attract big money and big players. After legalized charitable gaming and then sports betting, the Legislature continued to up the ante. Historic horse racing machines (a modified form of slot machines) were authorized in 2021, and in 2023 the high bet limit was raised from $10 to $50.
Charitable gaming had for decades included poker, bingo, Lucky 7 pull-tab tickets, and, if the group running the gaming events were registered with the state, raffles.
The 2006 law allowed for-profit companies to run charitable gaming locations, with the operators, charities and the state sharing in the proceeds. The licensees were first under the supervision of a state Gambling Commission and later the Lottery Commission when the two merged in 2015.
But with low wager limits, small venues, and no slot machines, the industry languished. New Hampshire sat on the sidelines as multimillion-dollar resorts and casinos opened in Maine in 2005 (Hollywood Casino Hotel & Raceway Bangor) and 2012 (Oxford Casino); and in Massachusetts in 2018 (MGM Springfield) and 2019 (Encore Boston Harbor).
For years, now-retired State Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, D-Manchester, led unsuccessful efforts to authorize one or two “high-end, well-regulated” resort casinos in NH. Then-Gov. Maggie Hassan made the concept a key part of her budget in 2013, but the idea died in the House.
Gambling opponents felt they had prevailed, but the charities that benefited from gaming became forceful advocates for more of the activity that was generating meaningful revenue for nonprofits and state government.
Legislation currently under consideration is likely to result in Vegas-style slot machines. That will further heighten interest by casino developers and generate more money for charities and the state.
New Hampshire is now on a solid path to “peak casino,” when all available licenses will be in play. The number of licenses available is legislatively capped at 18 until 2031, unless the Legislature chooses to change that date.
There are 14 active licenses, with the new Salem location bringing the number to 15 if it opens. “We have three applications in the pipeline,” says Charlie McIntyre, executive director of the New Hampshire Lottery. “They are in process and confidential.”
Anagnost predicts the state will have all 18 licenses active in the next three to five years.
At that point, the industry is expected to exceed the billion-dollar mark, according to a study completed for the state in October by Spectrum, a consulting firm that specializes in gambling market analysis.
Emerging Billion-Dollar Market
After accounting for out-of-state competition and assuming all 18 licenses are active, Spectrum estimates gamblers will spend about $1.1 billion annually at NH casinos. “The state’s casinos are currently capturing 16% of this amount,” the report states. “As New Hampshire’s casino industry is still in its nascency, we expect this capture rate to grow significantly in the next few years.”
The most recent available report from the Lottery Commission puts total revenue from casino operations in January at $22.4 million. Over 12 months, that adds up to nearly a quarter billion dollars, and that’s not counting the new casinos in Nashua and Rochester, expanded operations elsewhere, or the likelihood of a new Salem casino.
“The difficulty in terms of estimates is these places are still scaling up,” McIntyre says.
Any new casinos will open in communities that are already hosting one, which is how the state law is structured to prevent proliferation statewide. There are 13 municipalities in the state where charitable gaming was licensed as of May 1, 2020, with three licenses in Nashua, two in Keene and two in Hampton. The rest are in Belmont, Berlin, Concord, Conway, Dover, Lebanon, Manchester, Rochester, Salem and Seabrook (see sidebar).
Areas of Concern
The Spectrum report highlights several issues state regulators and policymakers should monitor closely in the years ahead, including consolidation in ownership, market saturation, workforce availability, out-of-state ownership, and programs to address problem gambling.
There are many NH-based investors who are equity
stakeholders in the casinos, according to Anagnost, but he acknowledges that outside interests are also involved. “We were growing so quickly I didn’t have the bandwidth in my organization to staff them up and get them operating,” says Anagnost. “It was more of a side thing to raise money for charity, so I took on a national partner and they are equity stakeholders. They won’t come in to operate without an equity stake.”
McIntyre says this is the case in most NH casinos. “The majority interest for most of the rooms is out-of-state interest,” he says. “The reason they are suggesting there is local ownership is because they had to buy the local corporation, which is licensed in New Hampshire. So, the corporation is local, but the ownership is not. The law says you can’t transfer the license, but you could buy the business.”
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, according to McIntyre. “The large operators really get compliance, and they will follow every rule we set for them,” he says. “Because a problem in one jurisdiction must be reported to the others, any problem anywhere is a problem everywhere.”
About to Hit the Limit
The state could reach market saturation when the 18th license is issued. “I don’t tend to believe and nor are there any good examples that trees grow infinitely to the sky,” says Andre Carrier, CEO and founder of The Brook and former COO of the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. “I think you get to a point where needs are being met, demand is being met, and you’re managing the margins of revenue potential that exists. This idea that if you build it, they will come in the gaming industry has been dangerous. You end up overdeveloping markets.”
The exterior of The Brook (Courtesy photo)
The Nash, which was mobbed on its opening weekend, expects to draw heavily from Northern Massachusetts, given its location on the border. ECL Entertainment, which owns casinos in Nevada, has invested $250 million in its NH charitable gaming operations, mostly to refit the old Sears building, but also to acquire the River Casino and Sports Bar and Lucky Moose locations in Nashua prior to opening the Nash.
Nash General Manager Eric Althaus, says it’s too soon to tell whether the opening day crowds are a true indication of the market potential. “It’s truly hard to tell at this point in time,” he says. “Every time you open a property you are always going to have an influx of people coming in. You have to wait and see what the business is going to be as you normalize, but I think we are in a good spot right now.”
The interior of The Nash Casino (Courtesy photo)
A Huge Economic Engine
The growth in casinos has given new life to the dying industry of indoor malls. For years, gaming operations have existed near malls, and now they are taking over spaces formerly occupied by large department stores. There are no hints of the old Sears building in The Nash, says Althaus. “The first comment we get from people is that they can’t even picture where they are in the casino compared to where they would be in the store.”
At the Lilac Club Casino in Rochester, COO Eric Barbaro is proud of how the renovations tried to retain some of the flavor and ambiance of the old Lilac Mall. “We found there was a lot of nostalgia in Rochester for the mall and we wanted to pay homage to that,” he says.
Operating as Granite State Hospitality, Barbaro’s company holds a license in Hampton and is seeking to open a location in the North Country as well.
As the first state to launch a state-sanctioned lottery in 1964, and with legacy racetracks in Seabrook and Salem, NH has a long tradition of raising money from gambling. If the new Salem casino opens, almost all major highway crossings into the state from Maine or Massachusetts will be marked by large casino operations.
Come up Route 95 from the south and you’ll hit The Brook; up Route 93 and you’ll hit the Live! In Salem; up Route 3, The Nash greets you at the border. Coming from Maine, you can choose the Lilac in Rochester or the Revo in Dover.
“In addition to the state’s share of the revenue, we create an enormous number of jobs, pay rooms and meals taxes, and are subject to the business profits tax,” says Anagnost. “With the taxes, job creation and investments by these operators to create desirable locations to play machines and table games, we are a huge economic engine to the state.”
Land-based Gambling Available in New Hampshire
Ask the developers of NH casinos what attracted them here in such numbers, and with such large investments, and they point to the changes in laws in recent years that have made the business model more attractive—the introduction of a form of slot machine, sports gambling and increases in the legal minimum bets.
The fact that license-holders since 2020 are grandfathered, and the state has put a limit on the number of casinos it will allow, are also attractive protections for existing investors.
These are the locations in NH that are currently operational. Those marked with an asterisk were licensed for charitable gambling as of May 1, 2020 and therefore eligible for a slot machine license. The licensed entity can be sold and moved within the licensed community. Unless the state law is changed, no community in NH other than the ones listed below can host a casino.
- Aces & Eights Casino*, Hampton
- Beach Club Casino, Hampton
- Chasers Poker Room*, Salem
- Concord Casino*, Concord (Licensure status is the subject of ongoing litigation. It is not presently operational.)
- Gate City Casino (formerly Boston Billiard Club & Casino*), Nashua
- Keene Casino*, Keene (Closed)
- Lakes Region Casino*, Belmont
- Lilac Club Casino, Rochester
- Lucky Moose Casino & Tavern, Nashua
- Northwoods Casino*: Berlin (Closed)
- Ocean Gaming at Hampton Beach*, Hampton
- Revo Casino and Social House, Conway (formerly Conway Poker Room*)
- Revo Casino and Social House - Dover (formerly Dover Poker Room*)
- Revo Casino and Social House - Keene (formerly Wonder Casino*)
- Revo Casino and Social House – Lebanon (formerly Lebanon Poker Room & Casino*)
- Revo Casino and Social House - Manchester (formerly Filotimo*)
- Speakeasy Casino*, Rochester (Closed)
- The American Social Club*, Nashua (Closed)
- The Brook*, Seabrook
- The Nash Casino, Nashua
Source: U.S. Gaming Review
