The House and Senate will begin an epic test of willpower when the budget conference committee sits down tomorrow (Monday) morning at 10AM in the Legislative Office Building, Room 210-211 in Concord.

  

The Senate is dug in on its budget built around phantom license revenues from four predatory slots casinos and 10,000 slot machines. Prime casino bill sponsor Senator D'Allesandro has already admitted that it would be unwise to spend any of this revenue because the state may be forced to refund it to a casino developer unable to obtain all necessary approvals. All House budget conferees support the House position firmly opposed to slot casinos.

 

 

House conferees need your moral support in holding fast to their principled position.

Please show up at 9:00 AM Monday, grab and wear one of our NO CASINO buttons, and claim a seat as close to the front as possible. One of us will be there to hand out buttons.

 

Please stay for as long as you can throughout the conference committee process and recruit as many as possible to join/replace you. This budget committee of conference is expected to continue potentially until late Thursday.

 

While no public testimony will be taken, predatory gambling supporters and lobbyists -- many promised jobs and contracts by casino interests -- will be sitting in vigil to support the Senate position.

 

 

We've posted our 3-page summary of the Commission's 175-page report here.

 

We oppose the Senate's last-ditch attempt to bailout failing race tracks by including legalization of instant racing slot machines in the state budget. These machines are no more than slot machines with horse racing displays lasting for as little 7 seconds per play. The machines look like slot machines and have been advertised by their vendor as providing a slot machine play experience.

 

The Wyoming Supreme Court, in its ruling finding that historic or instant racing machines are slot machines, wrote: "[W]e are not dealing with a new technology here, we are dealing with a slot machine that attempts to mimic traditional pari-mutuel wagering. ...Although it may be a good try, we are not so easily beguiled."

 

Legalizing instant racing machines would make it a very small step to allowing slot machines with different types of displays.

 

Magna Entertainment Company and its American subsidiary, AmTot International, sole-source provider of the proposed machines, software, and data servers required to operate instant racing machines, is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Legalizing these machines would make New Hampshire dependent upon the performance of a company subject to the highly unpredictable jurisdiction of a bankruptcy court.