Visit New Hampshire supports the Casino Expansion
We recently received a postcard mailed from Manchester from an anonymous source (pictured below right), expressing what we consider to be exaggerated fears about the Hampton Beach casino project, now in the late stages of the municipal approval process.
Visit New Hampshire editors have listened to, researched, and pondered these and other issues carefully, and we have concluded that fears we are hearing that the addition of 23,000 square feet of gaming space on Hampton Beach will bring property crime, violence, drugs and prostitution to the area are simply overwrought and unfounded.
Going from a small casino, to still comparatively small casino (that is, from roughly 10,000 square feet to 31,000 square feet), is not a “4x expansion” on our calculator.
Indeed, adding approximately 21,000 square feet of gaming space to Hampton Beach would roughly double the gaming space that currently exists, to a total of roughly 40,000 square feet. This compares to 90,000 square feet that now exists at the Brook, eight miles away in Seabrook (with an additional 20,000 square feet planned), and 130,000 square feet at the Nash Casino in Nashua, neither of which, as far as we know, has led to a crime wave in the two host communities.
Concerns about casinos leading to spikes in crime associated with large casinos in urban communities are not new, and they have been extensively studied. Several studies into the impact of the introduction of casino gambling across U.S. counties found that while there may be a short-term uptick in certain types of crime, in some locations, in the first few years after a casino opens, this effect diminishes over time. And, indeed, the inevitable change in the mix and affluence of visitors that the gentrification effect of the Casino Ballroom project will have on Hampton Beach will, we believe, almost certainly lead to a reduction in property crime.
As for fears about an increase in gambling addiction in Hampton, studies show that online gambling platforms (that is, sportsbooks) that are already here drive a sharper rise in addiction-related behaviors compared to physical venues. Moreover, mixed-use developments (that is, casinos integrated with hotels, retail, and entertainment) may dilute concentrated gambling exposure, reducing compulsive behavior risks compared to stand-alone gaming hall.
In short, Visit New Hampshire believes that no community can sit still. A community that is willfully sitting still is going backwards relative to its neighbors, and Hampton can ill afford to go backwards.
J. Michael Donovan
Publisher