Live Casino Free or Die - Granite Grok

Live Casino Free or Die

Senator Lou ‘Millennial Gaming’ D’Allesandro rolled the dice again on “legalized casino gambling” in New Hampshire and got crap(s). Casino.org is spinning this as proof that we’re not living up to our state motto.

[su_quote]It was D’Allesandro’s 19th effort to end casino prohibition in the “Live Free or Die State.” He projected that gaming could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new tax revenue for Hartford, but it once again wasn’t to be.[/su_quote]

The repeated failures of Millennial Gaming Lou have come from split legislatures, Democrat majority legislatures, Republican majority legislatures, Republican Legislatures with both Republican and Democrat governors, and even Democrat majority legislatures with Democrat governors. And while we might surmise, from a distance, that the problem is the people and their elected representatives, it might be Lou D’Allesandro’s Casino bill that’s the problem.

I have not read every version of every Casino bill Millennial Lou has ever put forward (and maybe there’s no difference) but from speaking to members of the State House and Senate, activists on the ground, and residents, one thing seems consistent. It always involves a state-sanctioned Casino gaming monopoly.

Over at Casino.org, they don’t see that.

The “Live Free or Die” motto was coined by General John Stark, the state’s most famous Revolutionary War soldier. The saying encapsulated the 13 American colonies’ efforts to free themselves from Great Britain’s political oversight. However, in 2017, when it comes to gambling, the New Hampshire House doesn’t want to free casinos.he problem is that they are not ‘Free’ at least not in the sense that the 13 American Colonises wanted to be free from Great Britain.

Free Casinos?

These Casinos are not ‘Free.’ Not free market.  The proposed legislation doesn’t say “hey, gaming community, come one come all to compete for the opportunity to attract residents to your product, which happens to be gambling. Here are the guidelines. Fees, rules, blah, blah blah. Start talking to local communities about what they expect from you like any other business. File for permission and the local and state folks will take a look, let residents vote on it, and see what happens.”

That would be free. As far as I can tell, that’s never really been on the table. Not even close.

What we get is a corporatism inherent in the plans to which State Senator D’Allesandro would wed us.

Given the decades of bi-partisan rejection, I think we’ve done a great job in keeping with the motto. The Live Free or Die State doesn’t want state-corporatist legalized casino gambling.

Is there still a majority of folks who will oppose it because of the potential for harm to society or the cannibalism of existing business? Might they be concern that there are costs which exceed any promised monetary benefits? Might they believe casinos are more like black holes than easy money? Might they rightly fear the power of gambling money to sway the State Senate in whichever direction the deep-pocketed casino lobby money wants them to go? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. And they’d be right to think that.

And why is that every other casino state in New England still has more taxes and a higher tax burden than Casino-less New Hampshire?

Those ‘Free Casinos’ sure as hell aren’t helping the residents in those other states become free from the tax burdens placed on them by their own political tyrants.

Maybe the Motto Should Be Live Casino Free or Die?

I’m not sure we’ll ever know.

A truly free market legalized gambling option has never ben proposed by Lou D’Allesandro and my apologies to Lou if there ever was.

And as tempting as it is to sell the legislature to deep-pocketed gambling lobbyists until someone proposes a model where vendors can be hustled out as quickly as they pushed their way in we won’t be joining that party. The rest of New England will have their casinos and higher taxes, and whatever else comes with it, and New Hampshire will keep its advantage, whether you believe the motto is accurate or not.

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