Lottery Commission gives legislative approval
The New Hampshire Lottery Commission approved DraftKings as the lottery’s official sports betting partner on Monday. This sees New Hampshire become the second New England state to allow sports betting.
The Executive Council, an advisory group for Governor Chris Sununu, held a vote which resulted in favor of awarding the six-year sports betting contract to DraftKings. A clause allowing for two separate two-year extensions to the contract is also included.
the second New England state to allow sports betting
In return, DraftKings will be paying the lottery 51% of its gross gaming revenue from its mobile sportsbook and half of its gross gaming revenue from its retail operations.
The New Hampshire Lottery believes DraftKings’ mobile offering will launch in January 2020. The locations for the state’s retail sportsbooks still need to be decided, meaning these won’t launch until the end of winter or the start of spring.
Response to the partnership
Following the approval of the DraftKings sports betting contract, Republican Governor Sununu took to Twitter to describe the deal as “a win for NH”:
The Executive Director of the New Hampshire Lottery, Charlie McIntyre, said the exclusive partnership “will offer our players an exciting opportunity to participate in sports betting with a trusted partner.”
the state will benefit from millions of dollars in revenue
He added that the overall appeal of the New Hampshire Lottery will be broadened and that the state will benefit from millions of dollars in revenue. Most of this tax revenue will be going towards funding education programs.
Local residents voted on sportsbook locations
During the recent November midterm elections, a vote held in nine cities in New Hampshire asked residents for their say on whether they approved of retail sportsbooks in their location.
Somersworth, Manchester, Laconia, Claremont, and Berlin residents were found to be in favor of retail sportsbooks. DraftKings will solely be in charge of these retail operations.
Other aspects of sports betting in NH
Intralot, the current provider of lottery technology in the state, will be able to offer some forms of sports bets through machines that sell lottery tickets. This will see 19.25% of its gross gaming revenue going to the state.
Both DraftKings and Intralot came out on top in the scoring rankings among all the respective candidates. The initial legislation to legalize sports betting was signed by Governor Sununu back in July 2019.
In total, there can be ten retail sports betting operations in the state.