Online Gambling
New Hampshire
Online poker is illegal in New Hampshire, and most of the rest of the United States. But many find ways to do it anyway, experts say.
Those interested download VPNs – “virtual private networks” – allowing them to discreetly access websites that are often incorporated offshore. There are risks, and if users are defrauded out of their winnings, there is little oversight or recourse under U.S. law.
But the practice is popular: 48 percent of people who report playing online poker – and other casino games – have done so on illegal channels, a national survey by the American Gaming Association found.
This year, some in the Granite State want to take advantage of the online gaming demand and legalize the practice in the state. And they’ve proposed devoting the proceeds to a scholarship fund for the community college system.
“I didn’t come in because I wanted to legalize online gaming, I came in because I wanted to provide a solution to our workforce problem,” said Sen. Tim Lang, a Sanbornton Republican and the sponsor of the bill. “And using our community colleges as a way to get there.”
Proponents say the move would allow the state to reap financial benefits from people who are gambling online illegally already. And they say the scholarship fund would provide opportunities to lower-income people to improve their professional qualifications and help fill critical vacancies.
But the proposal has drawn concern from some charities in the state, who say that legalizing online gambling could cut into revenue at the state’s brick-and-mortar charitable gaming organizations. That would mean less funding to those charities, they argued.