Nearly two years after Keno received a sound defeat in Concord, the New Hampshire Lottery Commission is hoping the Capital City will give the game another try.
Commission executive director Charlie McIntyre asked councilors on Monday night to consider asking city voters again on November's ballot whether the "Keno603" game should be allowed in Concord.
Concord voters rejected Keno in a 2,249 to 1,723 vote and was one of the few cities to deny the game in 2017. Dover shot it down 1,509 to 1,164 and Keene denied it 1,450 to 820. In Rochester, the measure failed by a single vote.
In some cities, like Portsmouth, the question never made it to the ballot. Keno is currently approved in 84 municipalities across the state and a portion of the proceeds are used to pay for full-day kindergarten in the state.
The commission wants to see the game — and revenues — grow.
"As you folks know, if the citizens say no, we'll move on and be back in two years," McIntyre said.
At least one city councilor seemed skeptical.
"If I understand this correctly, director, you're going to come back to us every two years to put this back on that ballot, and every two years voters of this city vote no, you're going to come back to us?" asked At-Large Councilor Byron Champlin.
"I have no plans in two years, I don't know what I'm doing next weekend," McIntyre replied. "But we'll be here incessantly — many legislative initiatives honestly take a number of years before they're approved."
Take, for example, the lottery, which McIntrye said went up for a vote 10 times before it was approved in 1963.
"Sometimes good ideas take a while to sit," he added.
McIntyre sang the praises of the game from a business perspective, saying establishments that allow it see more spending on food and drink items, usually in the early afternoon. He said the game pulled in $24 million in revenue last fiscal year and is expected to generate $36 million this year.
But that figure isn't inclusive of expenses like retailer incentives, administration and prize payouts, which take a significant chunk out of the bottom line. A Monitor report in February found Keno revenues were estimated to be lower than the $11 million that was necessary to cover the minimum additional adequacy for full-day kindergarten under the "kenogarten" bill, SB 191. Communities like Concord that rejected Keno still get kindergarten revenues generated by the game.
State law allows for Keno to get on city ballots in two ways: either the legislative body elects to put it there or through citizen petition. Public records show McIntyre has also asked Keene to reconsider the question.
Commission executive director Charlie McIntyre will not take NO for an answer. He is like a bull dog hanging on for dear life.
It took 10 times for the Lottery to be approved in 1963.
Good Luck!
I can still remember the sign above the toll area I believe as a child over 50 years ago saying New Hampshire Sweepstakes...what they called the lottery back then. Dad never played so don't know what it entailed.
it entailed being connected to a major horse run at rockingham park that featured the best horses in the country for a few years. back when a 100,000.00 race was a big deal. today maidens run for 100k routinely. you bought a sweepstakes ticket with a number on it of course and they drew out one for every horse in the race and paired it with you if yours got drawn. the ten people would go to the track that day and if your horse won you won. also paid minor prizes for 2nd, 3rd and so on.
If NH Lottery adds Keno to their Igames, it won't matter what Concord wants or doesn't want.
"We'll move on and be back in two years," McIntyre said. "I have no plans in two years, I don't know what I'm doing next weekend."
Drugs are bad, m'kay.
Instead of trying to shove Keno down unimpressed voters' throats every two years, he could -- you may need to sit down for this -- redirect that all effort into developing new games people might actually want to play instead.
I wish they had keno in Texas ,that would be great.
SC should get Keno
We have Keno here (North Carolina) but 90% of places to play are bars... while gambling is a bad habit within itself I'm not going to a bar to play Keno... although I would love to play the game and many people feel the same as I do . With NCEL website listing only 6 winners in over a month of any substantial value and I'm including the 5k player then that should speak volumes to this shamble of a new game they limit their own income by putting it in bars . I'm sure the drunk late night few dollar players absorb what they would actually make if it was a place where the rest of us gamblers would go . JMO
KY Keno started out in just a few places but now it can be played anywhere that has a lottery terminal and Online. It's not a type of game where large one time wins are expected, but more like a collection of small wins that are under the IRS radar. While it's played in bars here too, lots of convenience stores have tables set up near a large monitor showing the drawings every 4 minutes. One place even has two Kiosk lottery vending machines where players can use play slips.
Playing is probably just as addictive as buying scratch-offs and the odds are similar, but players have the option of choosing the numbers. Bet NC adds Keno to their Online play in the near future.