New Hampshire has prided itself on being a low-taxation state. It is one of a very few states that has never had a state income tax or sales tax. In the 1950s and 1960s, however, the costs of government were going up, and because the state was familiar with gaming – it had legalized both horse-race and dog-race wagering decades before, and charitable bingo games were popular – political leaders felt that there was a better way of raising revenues than raising taxes. In 1963 the legislature came up with a novel idea: sell sweepstakes tickets in the manner used with the Irish Sweepstakes. The state was close to large population concentrations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. A rationale behind the idea was that the state could gain public revenues from nonresident gamblers. Tickets cost three dollars each, and persons purchasing them had to register their names and addresses for drawings. Winners would have horses assigned to them, and the grand prize winners would be those whose horse came in first. There was considerable interest in the sweepstakes, but the ticket sales fell far below expectations. The state was quick to change the lottery format after New York adopted a more direct lottery ticket sales procedure in 1966, and then after New Jersey revolutionized ticket distribution methods as it began its lottery in 1970.
As New Hampshire modernized its lottery in the 1970s, sales picked up, and revenues became an important part of funding for education in the state. New Hampshire formed a partnership with Maine and Vermont to offer the Tri-State Lotto game. Subsequently, they became part of the Powerball consortium. The state had become a winner through a process of imitation.
The legalization of casino gambling for Atlantic City seemed also to call for imitation in the minds of many. After the momentum for casinos gained speed in the early 1980s, Gov. Hugh J. Gallen appointed a Commission for Gambling in 1982. The commission studied jai alai betting, offtrack betting, and casinos. The commission came out against all three forms of gambling. Its strongest criticisms were aimed at the casino industry, stating, “for the little promise it holds out as a source of state revenue, [the casino industry] will bring with it serous disadvantages. It will burden the state government and local communities with the cost of policing its operations and providing municipal services for the mass of patrons needed to make it run on a paying basis. It will devastate the existing family-oriented vacation industry”. A bill to establish casinos was defeated in the legislature. Since 1982, there has been no serious push to legalize casino gambling.
|
|