Nine New Hampshire cities to vote on in-person sports betting

Residents in nine New Hampshire cities will vote Tuesday on whether to permit in-person sports betting —Concord, Berlin, Claremont, Dover, Laconia, Manchester, Nashua, Rochester and Somersworth.

Voters will see the following question on their ballot: “Shall we allow the operation of sports book retail locations within the city?”

A new state law allows anyone over 18 to participate in online sports betting, and it also allows the state to set up a sportsbook retail location to facilitate sports betting. The law authorizes the New Hampshire Lottery to conduct sports betting, which will be allowed through as many as 10 physical sports book locations and as many as five online sportsbooks.

Franklin voters already approved their city as a potential location for sportsbook retail locations during city elections on Oct. 1. Towns will be able to place the question on their Town Meeting warrants in spring 2020.

The sports betting legislation, which creates a Division of Sports Wagering within the New Hampshire Lottery to oversee sports betting, allows for mobile wagering and prohibits any wagering on New Hampshire college teams or any college games taking place in New Hampshire. Players must be 18 or older to make wagers.

Last week, the lottery released a scoring summary for the potential online vendors and retailers looking to offer sports betting in New Hampshire. DraftKings had the top scores in mobile and retail networks. Intralot was the top company for the lottery channel. The lottery expects to approve final contracts by the end of November.

Maura McCann, marketing director for the lottery, said it looks forward to “implementing a sports betting system that supports continued revenue growth, while also incorporating all necessary safeguards and protections for our players and retailers.”