Two of New Hampshire’s three biggest cities on Tuesday voted against allowing retail sportsbooks within their borders. Four months after state lawmakers legalized sports betting, Nashua and Concord, the state capital, voted down a proposition to allow bricks-and-mortar sportsbooks in their cities, while the state’s biggest city, Manchester, voted to allow them.
According to new law, the state can have up to 10 retail sportsbooks, but cities and towns must approve locations within their borders. Nine cities had the sports betting question on the ballot, and five approved the measure while four voted it down. The City of Franklin became the first to approve sports betting in October. The city has an early election.
Voters were asked “Shall we allow the operation of sports book retail locations within the city?”
Results by jurisdiction
Here are the results by city with unofficial vote tallies from WMUR:
- Berlin: vote tally unavailable
- Claremont: Yes (777-536)
- Concord: No (2,877-1,914)
- Dover: No (2,547-2,053)
- Laconia: Yes (1,561-1,480)
- Manchester: Yes (9,549-8,348)
- Nashua: No (4,730 to 4,665)
- Rochester: No (1,488-1,439)
- Somersworth: Yes (647-579)
Up to 10 retail locations allowed by law
That Nashua voters opposed the measure will likely have an impact on projected sports betting revenue as the city sits on the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border and has long been a destination for Bay Staters seeking tax-free shopping, lottery tickets, and before the law changed, alcohol on the weekends.
Sports betting is the right bet for New Hampshire! I urge voters in Manchester, Nashua, Dover, Rochester, Claremont, Berlin, Laconia, Concord, and Somersworth to allow retail sports betting in their cities! #603Pride
— Chris Sununu (@GovChrisSununu) November 5, 2019
The state legalized sports betting in July and will allow for up to 10 physical locations and five mobile sportsbooks. The Granite State has since entered into negotiations with DraftKings and Intralot to run retail, mobile and the lottery products. The Lottery projects sports betting will go live in New Hampshire in the first quarter of 2020. The state’s executive council must approve sports betting contracts, and that will likely be on the council’s agenda for its Nov. 20 meeting.
New Hampshire is the second New England state to legalize sports betting. Rhode Island did so in the summer of 2018 and currently has two physical locations and two mobile sportsbooks, all run in partnership with the state lottery. In New Hampshire, the lottery will have its own mobile offering, but physical and mobile sportsbooks will be run by commercial operators. It’s likely that after selecting DraftKings to run both physical and mobile sportsbooks, and Intralot to run the Lottery app, New Hampshire will add additional operators in the future.
