On a good night, players crowd the poker room at Salem’s Rockingham Park, wagering thousands of dollars on Texas Hold ‘Em, 7-card Stud and Omaha Hi-Lo. It costs at least $20 for a seat at a table; some games require $250 to buy in. Dozens of tables spread across the space that can hold up to 85.

This is the face of charitable gaming in New Hampshire.

While state lawmakers debate gambling – prompted by an effort to legalize slot machines – an evening at Rockingham Park shows that millions of gambling dollars are already changing hands in New Hampshire.

Recovered from the Poker Players Alliance archive index. The full original text continued beyond this excerpt and was not captured in the archive.