To all N.H PPA members:
Hi folks, and welcome to summer in New Hampshire from your PPA State Director, Patrick Fleming.
There has been some significant developments on the charity poker front in New Hampshire, and it looks like our legislature is getting ready to make some adjustments to what has previously been allowed. Specifically, a law is now passing through the House/Senate conference committee that, if finally approved, would change a number of things:
1) It would raise the maximum "bet" from the current $2 to $5, allowing the charity poker clubs to have slightly higher cash games.
2) It would TAX the gross amount of poker tournament entry fees at 3%
3) It would Tax the rake from cash poker games at 10%
4) It would CAP the return to the players from tournament entry fees at 80%
This is HB 1509 and you can read the whole thing here: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2008/HB1509.html
It looks like in the final version of the bill the charity is still required to get 35% of the gross PROCEEDS from the charity game, same as before.
Other bills already passed by both houses would greatly increase the requirements and fees for getting a charitable gaming license, pretty much making it impossible for a small business. There was also a bill passed by both houses that clarifies that charitable gaming can begin at 11:00 AM on Saturday.
I have very mixed feelings about this proposal, and want input from you members before deciding what, if any, action we should take. Of course the higher bet limit is nice, but it still only allows limit games. I have a personal dislike of taxing a charity fundraiser, but the fact that they are taxing it and making it part of the revenue stream pretty much insures that there will always be charitable poker tournaments in NH;s future. That also raises the possibility that they will loosen the restrictions over time as they get more used to it, see it doesnt flood our state with prostitutes and mobsters, and see the need for greater revenue. The 80% cap on return to the players is the provision I like least, but it is there I suppose to protect a charity's cut, and to prevent competition between the games over that cut. All in all, I dont see it as affecting the players that much (most tournaments only return 75% to the players now), but that tax is going to have to get paid from somewhere, and I doubt it will be coming from the game operators profits.
I will also post this in the NH forum at the PPA's new website (the forums are at: /forums/ ). I encourage all NH PPA members and poker players to comment there. Once we have a consensus on the changes, we can then decide how best to respond.
Thanks, and good cards to all.
Patrick Fleming
PS - I will be moving some older forum posts to this forum soon so this will be the primary place for NH poker information.