Online Casinos in New Hampshire

New Hampshire Licenses Online Sports Betting, Not Online Casino

New Hampshire is a state where the distinction between verticals does real work, and conflating them would misdescribe the law. Online sports betting is authorised and run through the state lottery. Online casino play is not authorised at all.

The general rule is in RSA 647:2. "A person is guilty of a misdemeanor if such person knowingly and unlawfully:" — among the listed acts is to "Gambles, or loans money or any thing of value for the purpose of aiding another to gamble." Running a gambling business can be worse than a misdemeanour: "A person is guilty of a class B felony if such person conducts, finances, manages, supervises, directs, or owns all or part of a business and such person knowingly and unlawfully conducts, finances, manages, supervises, or directs any gambling activity on the business premises which does any of the following:", with thresholds including gross revenue of $2,000 in a single day and operation for more than 10 days.

The word doing the work is "unlawfully", and the statute defines it: ""Unlawfully" means not specifically authorized by law or not solely for amusement, without stake or possibility of gain or loss." So everything turns on the list of things the legislature has specifically authorised. RSA 647:2, V sets that list out, and the remote-wagering entry on it is a single one: "The conduct of a sports book, or participation in sports wagering, authorized by RSA 287-I." There is no equivalent entry for online casino games.

How the Authorised Online Wagering Works

RSA 287-I gives the sports book to the state lottery — ""Commission" means the lottery commission." — and the Commission may run it remotely: "The commission and its agents are authorized to operate a sports books that offer tier I, tier II, and tier III sports wagers through a mobile sports wagering platform by mobile devices or over the Internet." The market is deliberately small: "No more than 5 mobile sports wagering agents shall be in operation at any given time." Wagers must be struck in the state: "That mobile sports wagers must be initiated and received within the geographic borders of the state of New Hampshire and may not be intentionally routed outside of the state."

The Commission's own description of its digital products confirms the scope: "And now, we have ventured into the digital platforms of sports betting and iLottery." Sports betting and lottery games sold online are not casino games, and this page does not treat them as a substitute for one. No online casino is licensed in New Hampshire, and this site does not point readers at operators that are not licensed where they are.

The Sweepstakes Definition Is Written for Machines in a Building

New Hampshire's gambling chapter does use the word sweepstakes, and it is worth being precise about what it covers. The definition begins broadly — ""Sweepstakes" means any game, advertising scheme or plan, or other promotion which, with or without payment of any consideration, a person may enter to win or become eligible to receive any prize, the determination of which is based upon chance." — and is then expressly narrowed: "For purposes of this chapter, the term includes only those sweepstakes that an entrant can enter, play or otherwise interact with using a gambling machine furnished by the sweepstakes operator or an affiliate or person under contract with the operator, in an establishment controlled by, affiliated with, or contracting with the operator." The accompanying definition of a gambling machine is a physical one: ""Gambling machine" means any device or equipment which is capable of being used to play sweepstakes or games of chance and which discharges money, or anything that may be exchanged for money, cash equivalent, debit card, merchandise credit card, or opportunities to enter sweepstakes or play games of chance, or displays any symbol entitling a person to receive such a prize."

Those provisions are aimed at sweepstakes machines placed in premises, not at dual-currency sweepstakes websites. No New Hampshire statute or regulator statement found for this sheet addresses online sweepstakes casinos, so no sweepstakes status is recorded for the state rather than one being read across from the machine provisions, from the real-money position, or from another state. A sweepstakes casino is not a licensed alternative to a real-money one.

Regulator and Minimum Age

The state body is the New Hampshire Lottery Commission, which describes its own standard this way: "The Commission's dedicated staff recognizes that New Hampshire was the first state to offer a Lottery in modern times and that the Lottery shall continue to be an industry leader by striving to exceed minimum industry standards and goals established for accounting, security, marketing and game design." The minimum age for the online wagering the state does allow is 18. For sports betting, an ""Authorized sports bettor" means an individual 18 years of age or older who is physically present in the state of New Hampshire when placing a sports wager with the commission or an authorized agent of the commission and is not a prohibited sports bettor.", and operators must provide "Age verification measures to be undertaken to block access to and prevent sports wagers by persons under the age of 18 years." The Commission states the same for the lottery: "Must be 18+ to play the lottery in New Hampshire."