Some foresee domino effect in N.E. gaming

Early one morning a few weeks ago at his home in Hanover, N.H., Jim Rubens stared with dismay at an e-mail from a Massachusetts friend that carried news of Governor Deval Patrick's plan to bring three casinos to the Bay State.

Rubens, a onetime gubernatorial candidate who now heads the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling, pounced on his keyboard and began dashing off e-mails to fellow gambling opponents warning that Patrick's move bodes ill for keeping slots out of New Hampshire.

"It was like sticking a hot poker in our eye," Rubens said. "You put casinos north of Boston and it's an invitation to our legislators who want casinos to say: 'Look at the money that is going to bleed out of our state.' "

Massachusetts' proposed foray into gambling has set off what many are calling a casino arms-race among New England states. The New Hampshire Legislature will take up at least eight proposals for resort-style casinos or slot machines at its four racetracks. In Maine, proponents say they have support for a new gambling facility near the Canadian border, and some are speculating about gambling in southern Maine.

In both states, opponents and proponents alike say that gambling expansion, rejected in past years, now appears increasingly likely because of mounting fears that potential gambling dollars will be lost to the Bay State.

"The Massachusetts proposal will have a ripple effect across all of New England," said George McHale, chairman of the Maine Gambling Control Board, which has urged a moratorium on gambling expansion pending further study.

Lou D'Allesandro, a New Hampshire state senator and key proponent of allowing slot machines and possibly casinos, said Patrick's proposal has derailed arguments in his state that such gambling should be opposed on moral grounds. "It's not a pipe dream anymore," said D'Allesandro, a Democrat.

New Hampshire has largely resisted gambling though, like many states, it has relied on lottery and racetrack revenues. But in 2005, gambling interests began flocking to the state after the election of Governor John Lynch, a Democrat, who has refused to rule out introducing slots or casinos.

Soon, Millennium Gaming Inc., a Las Vegas-based owner of casinos, bought an option to purchase Rockingham Park in Salem, N.H., on the Massachusetts border. Also in 2005, the Lodge at Belmont, a greyhound racing track in the Lakes Region, was purchased by Torguson Gaming Group Inc., a Nevada corporation based in Biloxi, Miss., and headed by Marlin F. Torguson, a casino developer. And Delaware North Companies, a hospitality conglomerate that also runs gaming operations, took over management of The Balsams, a North Country resort that is a potential casino site.

In 2006, the New Hampshire Legislature voted to allow for-profit companies to operate games of chance at so-called poker parlors, requiring that at least 35 percent of profits go to charity. Since the change in the law, 12 companies have been licensed to run 16 poker parlors across New Hampshire.

Now some of those gaming companies are pushing for larger gambling enterprises.

"We thought we could do business in a very positive fashion and make a name for ourselves," said James Rafferty, a former Nevada gaming executive who is president of New Hampshire Charitable Gaming, a company in the process of opening two poker parlors in southern New Hampshire. "And as the law evolved, maybe other opportunities would come our way, like slots."

New Hampshire legislators are also under increasing pressure to look at gambling because the state faces a looming fiscal problem: The state Supreme Court has mandated that the state government pump money into schools, an obligation estimated at several hundred million dollars. The governor has said he opposes increasing the sales and income taxes; some legislators are discussing expanded gambling as a possible alternative.

"If we don't go after the gaming dollar and we allow Massachusetts to have the gaming dollar, we'll have a big hole to fill," said New Hampshire Senator Bob Clegg, who supports limited expansion of gambling. "The only thing that will be left is the sales and income tax."

Lynch remains publicly uncommitted on gambling expansion, saying through his spokesman, Colin Manning, that he wants "clear evidence that the expansion of gambling would not negatively impact New Hampshire's high quality of life."

Christine Hamm, a Democrat who chairs a subcommittee charged with examining gambling, is also undecided. But she said some New Hampshire residents are eager to see gambling expanded, if only to allow slot machines.

"Right now there are buses that take people to Foxwoods, mostly seniors, who just want slots and would like to see it at the tracks," she said.

In Maine, the Legislature rejected slots at the state's two race tracks, but voters overrode that decision in a 2003 referendum, allowing slots at a track in Bangor. The horse-racing track has now been renamed Hollywood Slots and an expanded facility is under construction there with a hotel, retail space, restaurant, and some 1,500 slot machines.

A ballot question next month asks whether a similar operation should be opened in Calais, near the Canadian border.

A larger question is brewing about bringing gambling to southern Maine. While Governor John Baldacci, a Democrat, opposes expanded gambling, some say that if Massachusetts and New Hampshire go the way of casinos, residents in southern Maine, who have been more resistant to expanding gambling than residents in the economically strapped northern part of the state, will be unable to resist the allure.

"If people in southern Maine were to look south and see Massachusetts building this, I would anticipate there would be people in southern Maine saying: 'Why are we letting these people cross the border? Why not build a facility in the state and keep the money here?' " said McHale, of the Maine Gambling Control Board.

Meanwhile, Rhode Island Senator Paul Moura says he will introduce legislation to allow 24-hour gambling at Twin River and Newport Grand, the state's two licensed slot parlors. Moura says Rhode Island will suffer if no changes are made to the state's gambling facilities while Massachusetts proceeds with casinos.

There has been no push yet toward slots or casinos in Vermont, where a series of leaders including the current governor, Jim Douglas, a Republican, have opposed expanded gambling.

Material from Associated Press was used in this report.