New Hampshire just recently allowed sports betting within their borders. Governor Chris Sununu signed the H 480 law last July. This made sports betting legal and allowed to be regulated within the state of New Hampshire.
With this, New Hampshire became the sixth state in the US to fully embrace local sports betting. Other states that now allow sports betting their territories are Nevada, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and West Virginia.
More states are now lined up to decide on the legality of local sports betting within their borders, but it is likely that only a few more states will come to a decision regarding this matter before 2019 ends. Some states are most likely to launch sports betting in their areas by next year instead.
In New Hampshire, the H 480 law will allow the state to create its own Division of Sports Wagering. This will be under the New Hampshire Lottery Commission. This commission will be the one in charge of the expansion of legal sports betting.
It is reported that the law that concerns sports betting in this state is heavily patterned with what West Virginia has. New Hampshire’s Division of Sports Wagering will most likely have rules and regulations very similar to WV’s own commission.
Part of the H 480 law is that only 15 licenses will be awarded to sport betting operators. This could compose of five retail and as much as ten online sportsbooks. It’s also stated there that the commission will be allowed to negotiate the terms that the bidders have to offer when it comes to the revenue talks.
The legal betting in New Hampshire is 18 years and punters are allowed to register and have their betting accounts remotely. This means that they can create an account and place their bets online. Unlike in Iowa where punters are required to open an account with a casino or local sportsbooks before they can place their bets online.
In-play betting is also allowed in New Hampshire, but this can only be done online. This is great news for both punters and operators as in=play sports betting is now getting more attention in the US. This allows punters to place their bets right before the game starts and even as the game happens.
It’s a popular practice in Europe, but it is banned in Australia and even Tennessee in the United States. Many operators see this as the future of sports betting, and so New Hampshire allowing this in their state can help make this more popular.
Meanwhile, in-state collegiate betting is not allowed to be wagered on. This is also based on the H 480 law. This made many local NCAA fans a bit unhappy, but they can still place their bets on collegiate games through bookies outside New Hampshire.
Despite the caps and limitations that the new law has regarding sports betting, New Hampshire punters are still looking forward to placing their bets on local sports bookies as they would then know that this could be beneficial to the local economy.
Many were hoping that the first bookie would operate before the NFL season begins, but as of now, only proposals are made by 13 companies. The state hasn’t chosen a vendor yet, so local punters are still placing their bets outside the state after reviewing predictions on many sites.
Overall, the law that New Hampshire has regarding sports betting looks pretty good despite the ban on collegiate sports betting. The good thing is that New Hampshire is still keeping their mind open when it comes to removing the limits that the new laws have.
What New Hampshire is focused on right now is how and when they will launch sports betting in their state. As of now, the government already received a total of 13 bids from companies. These companies are aiming to run the sports betting system in New Hampshire.
The lottery officials of NH are expecting to choose a vendor by the end of November. However, it’s still unclear when the state will officially launch sports betting. Despite this, the state is forecasting around 7.5 million US dollars of gambling revenue by 2021.
Even if the licensing process in New Hampshire is not that big, they still expect to generate plenty of interest. The note attached to the H 480 bill expects at least 11.25 million US dollars of annual state revenue from sports betting beginning on 2021.