[NH] New Hampshire Bingo, Casino and Sports Betting [2021]

All online casinos that accept New Hampshire players are based offshore. Although the state laws do not explicitly prohibit players from participating with online gaming, it does not permit it either.

It is expressly stated, that no commercial operator may establish gambling activities within the borders of the State.

Land based casinos offer table games only. Slots and other electronic gaming machines are not permitted.

Sports betting is legal and offered through DraftKings.

Online Gambling

• Offshore casino and sports betting sites accept players from New Hampshire.
• There are no state regulated online onshore operators.
• New Hampshire State Lottery holds an exclusive license on the operation of land based and online lottery products.
• Commercial licenses are not available for land-based casinos, nor for tribal casinos on Indian reservation territory.
• The state has awarded an exclusive license to DraftKings to provide sports betting services.

Best 5 New Hampshire Online Live Casinos

Online casino activity is currently available and offered through various sites that are based offshore. These sites are safe and secure to play at, with no risk posed to New Hampshire players, both regarding legality or to player data protection.

The best online casinos all use the latest SSL internet technology, and feature secure payment methods that are common, trusted and processed by reputable financial institutions. These include: VISA, MasterCard, Amex, Bitcoin (BTC), direct wire transfers and many other methods.

Casino Bonuses are extremely important in selecting an online casino. We have therefore displayed some of the best casino bonuses that can be found whilst balancing other important criteria such as safety and security as previously mentioned. However, for ease of reference, we have listed them according to the size of bonus.

Without doubt, at the time of writing, El Royale Casino offers the best casino bonus deal. It is also one of the safest. Coupled with excellent customer service, El Royale is our top recommended online casino for New Hampshire players.

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Top 3 New Hampshire Online Bingo Sites

New Hampshire Bingo Legality

New Hampshire bingo laws are stipulated under Charitable gaming state legislation. These laws provide for the licensing of non profit organizations to operate bingo games. At present, these laws do not address nor permit online bingo by onshore operators. Accordingly, online bingo sites that do accept New Hampshire players are based offshore (which is the same as online casinos and sports betting sites).

The recommended online bingo sites all accept players from New Hampshire. They offer advanced features that include instant messaging, fun bingo games and protocols that ensures bingo participants play together in a civil enjoyable manner. Due to the social aspect of bingo, there is a cultural aspect to bingo which cannot be found with casino or sports betting. As an example, A LOT of acronyms form part of instant chat messaging. If you are not familiar with online bingo lingo, do not be afraid, learning it is one of the most fun parts!

Sports Betting Sites

New Hampshire SportsBooks and betting is legal onshore with many flocking to DraftKings as the only licenses sports book provider. However there are online sports betting sites that exist offshore. They accept New Hampshire bettors, with no precedence of any bettor being informed of a breach in law, let alone charged with a misdemeanor or felony.

Daily Fantasy Sports

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) is growing fast in popularity. New to the gambling scene, it is considered a game of skill by many which requires bettors to create a fictitious team based on real players. The performance of the real sports players in real life determine how successful the fictitious team is. As a result, it truly is those with the most “skills” will win.

Read More: How to Guide Daily Fantasy Sports

The two dominate daily fantasy sports providers is DraftKings and FanDuel. On this site, we do not actively promote daily fantasy sports as we understand that it is a game of “skill” which is being exploited by bettors who have the best risk modelling. That is, it isn’t nearly about how well you know your sport, the sport players etc, it is very much about who has the best statistical model and who has access to the most detailed sports player data.

As someone who may be a big fan of sport, and thinking that they would have a good chance of winning money in DFS, think again. You are pitted against statistical modelling experts who deliberately target games that mostly have new players to DFS. In fact, it has been alleged that those who are extremely good at DFS have been known to collaborate among themselves and not compete with each other. Thereby creating a sustainable winning formula shared by the experts.

We therefore want our readers to be aware that DFS is not what is appears to be. In fairness, DFS is legal in New Hampshire and many DFS onshore operators accept New Hampshire players.

Legal Minimum Gambling Age

• 21 for online casino gambling
• 21 for pari-mutuel wagering and casino gambling
• 21 for sports betting
• 18 for lottery and charitable gaming

Gambling Laws

• State legislation does not explicitly prohibit online gambling, however it can be assumed that the intent of the law does.
• Onshore online operators are unlawful.
• Land based casinos are prohibited.
• Licensed on-track pari-mutuel wagering is permitted on horse and dog races.
• Charitable organizations that have been registered for a minimum of two years may lawfully operate poker, bingo, lucky 7, raffles and games of chance

Gambling Taxes

Surplus from the lottery is circulated to the New Hampshire Education Trust Fund.

Regulation and Governance

• New Hampshire Racing and Charitable Gaming Commission
• New Hampshire Lottery Commission
• New Hampshire Gaming Regulatory Oversight Authority

Gambling Legislation

• New Hampshire Revised Statutes
• New Hampshire Laws on Raffles, Bingo and Lucky 7

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New Hampshire Gambling Market Developments

Background

Gambling law in New Hampshire is restrictive. Poker, casino gambling and sports betting are prohibited, except as pursuant to charitable gambling legislation. In 2014, legislative attempts to authorize and regulate two land-based casinos failed to reach a majority, falling short by a single vote;

Intralot was awarded an exclusive license to operate land based and online lottery products in May 2009, with proceeds from the lottery being distributed to fund public education;

New Hampshire has one horse track racino: Rockingham Park Race Track;

Cruise ships are permitted to enter New Hampshire for a maximum of 48 hours in any one period, subject to the condition that gambling machines are not in use during such period.

July 2015

New Hampshire Racing and Charitable Gaming Commission awarded INNOVA a license to install LT-3 lottery ticket dispensers in approved charitable locations within New Hampshire. INNOVA will perform the selection process for distribution partners.

January 2015

The House of Representatives voted in favour of a bill to allow the operation and playing of keno.

HB594 won a 182-137 majority vote and was subsequently referred to the senate for consideration.

The bill seeks to allow all alcohol licensed premises, excluding retail premises, to offer keno and for the proceeds to be distributed between health and education causes;

A number of senators introduced a bill to enable the lottery commission to license a casino in Rockingham County. SB551 seeks to permit the operation of table games and video lottery machines at the facility which would be authorized under the Rockingham Park racing track pari-mutuel license.

March 2016

State senators voted against progressing SB551 which sought to license a casino in Rockingham County.

January 2017

A number of House Representatives introduced a bill to authorize online gambling. HB562-FN would amend the state’s gambling laws to exempt online gambling from prohibition but did not contain any further detail relating to regulation of the proposed industry;

Legislation was introduced to the Senate to permit the development of two casinos in the state.

SB242 would authorize a single category one licensed facility (permitted to operate a maximum of 160 table games and 3,500 gaming machines) and a single category two licensed facility (permitted to operate a maximum of 80 table games and 1,500 gaming machines). A gross win tax of 35% was set for gaming machines and 18% for table games. Licenses would be awarded for a period of ten-years and fees were set at $80m for the category one license and $40m for the category two license.

March 2017

SB242, which would authorize two casinos in the state, was passed by the Senate by a 13 to 10 majority. The bill progressed to the House for consideration.

May 2017

The House of Representatives voted against the passage of casino bill SB242 by a majority of 275 – 82.

The bill was dropped from the legislative session.

July 2017

Legislation was enacted to authorize the sale of lottery tickets via the Internet and mobile devices.

HB517 was signed into law by Governor Chris Sununu and included provisions to allow the lottery

commission to offer online and mobile ticket sales to customers who register for this service at a lottery retailer. The commission must also offer a voluntary self-exclusion program and set maximum daily, weekly and monthly expenditure amounts;

Governor Chris Sununu gave his assent to a bill to authorize and regulate daily fantasy sports. HB580 directs the lottery commission to promulgate and enforce regulations to govern the industry, however, the bill does not impose an annual registration fee or rate of taxation on operators wishing to target the state;

Governor Chris Sununu signed SB191 into law, authorising keno in all state districts provided local voters approve the game by ballot.

October 2017

HB562, which was introduced to authorize online gambling in January 2017, was scheduled to be reconsidered in an executive legislative session on 25 October 2017. The bill would amend the state’s gambling laws to exempt online gambling from prohibition.

November 2017

Seven (7) districts approved the operation of keno in local ballots. The Lottery Commission plans to launch the game in over 100 locations across the districts in mid-December.

July 2018

The state lottery commission awarded Intralot a five (5) year extension to its gaming systems contract. The extension is will run from 30 June 2020.

September 2018

The state lottery launched its online lottery platform in partnership with NeoPollard Online. The lottery rolled out a selection of draw and instant games on the platform which is accessible via desktop and mobile devices provided they are within state borders.

January 2019

On 03 January 2019, legislation was introduced to authorize sports betting on professional sports events. HB480 would authorize the Lottery Commission to conduct sports betting directly or through an authorized agent via the use of mobile internet devices and through physical sports book retail establishments. This Bill would also create a new division within the Commission to oversee and regulate sports betting.

February 2019

The New Hampshire Lottery Commission launched a legal challenge against the DOJ’s revised Wire Act Opinion, supported by Governor Sununu and AG Macdonald. The legal challenge stated that the Opinion renders the statute unconstitutionally vague, and argues it is unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The challenge further stated that the Commission, its employees and agents could face prosecution on a strict application of the Opinion; and that it is uncertain as to whether it must cease its operations because all of its lottery-related activities use the Internet or wires incidentally.

March 2019

The House of Representatives passed HB480 to allow land-based and mobile sports betting in retail locations in the state. The bill was sent to the Senate for consideration.

May 2019

The New Hampshire Senate passed an amended version of HB480 after the Senate Finance Committee granted the bill an ‘ought to pass with amendment’ recommendation. The state’s House of Representatives is now due look at the legislation with a view to passing it to the Governor for signature.

June 2019

A District Court Judge ruled in favor of New Hampshire in its legal challenge against the US Department of Justice’s revised Wire Act opinion. The judge said the 1961 act only applied to sports betting and rejected the DoJ Office of Legal Counsel’s 2018 opinion that the Act covered all forms of gambling. The court added that DoJ’s revised opinion was “no hypothetical case: the plaintiffs have demonstrated with specific record evidence that they had standing when they filed suit because a sufficiently imminent threat of enforcement loomed. Before the 2018 Opinion, federal law enforcement could not invoke the Wire Act to disconnect the Lottery Commission from the internet.

Now it can”. New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan also filed amicus briefs in support of New Hampshire. The DoJ may appeal against the New Hampshire District Court ruling, which could see the case progress to the First Circuit Court of Appeals;

The House approved sports betting bill HB480 which was sent to the Governor to be signed into law.

July 2019

New Hampshire legalized sports betting after Governor Chris Sununu signed HB480 into law. The state’s Lottery Commission was also due to launch a request for proposal to select mobile and retail sports betting vendors as part of the process. Towns and cities have the right to hold a vote on whether or not to have a sportsbook within their located within their districts;

January 2020 was set as the timeline for a partnership to be in place for the state’s lottery operator.

The number of mobile betting operators permitted would be limited to five (5), while a maximum of ten retail sportsbooks would be allowed operate at any time. Other key measures included in the bill:

– the Lottery Commission would have the right to set daily, weekly and monthly spending limits for players and a self-exclusion system;

– remote registration would be permitted in New Hampshire and in-play betting available online;

– establishment of the Division of Sports Wagering to oversee and selecting the state’s sports betting vendors;

– formation of the Council for Responsible Gambling to promote education, prevention, and treatment of problem gambling in the state.

August 2019

The New Hampshire Lottery launched a request for proposal (RFP) in August for private operators to operate ten (10) retail and five (5) mobile sportsbooks. Approximately 20 potential partners are believed to be interested in operating with the lottery in the state with the likely launch dates expected to be in Q1 2020.

October 2019

The New Hampshire Lottery announced DraftKings had been selected as the successful bidder in the RFP to operate the state’s mobile and retail sports betting platforms. The Lottery was yet to announce the full details of the partnership at this point November 2019

Nine cities in New Hampshire had ballot initiatives to determine whether sports betting should be allowed in their areas, of which five have voted in favour (Berlin, Claremont, Laconia, Manchester and Somersworth) while four voted against (Concord, Dover, Nashua and Rochester). The votes were close in each of the cities, but the results have been hailed by the New Hampshire Lottery as positive as they continue the sports betting implementation process.

The New Hampshire Executive Council voted to approve the state lottery’s decision to award DraftKings an exclusive contract to operate sports betting in the state. Legislation signed into law in July allowed for up to 10 retail sportsbook locations and five mobile offerings and DraftKings was chosen as the state’s sole betting operator. DraftKings said it would launch the news sportsbook in January in time for the Super Bowl”.

Kambi and DraftKings confirmed they will be working together to deliver sports betting services and products in New Hampshire. Kambi finished second to DraftKings for mobile offerings as part of the bidding process and said it would now support DraftKings.

December 2019

DraftKings announced it would launch its mobile sports betting platform with the New Hampshire Lottery on 30 December 2019.

April 2020

The New Hampshire Lottery expanded its online sports betting markets to include eNASCAR racing events including the Coca-Cola iRacing Series.

August 2020

DraftKings has launched New Hampshire’s first retail sportsbook, in partnership with the state lottery and The Brook casino.