2 weeks Ago
CONCORD — A state hearing officer said he’ll soon decide whether to extend former state Sen. Andy Sanborn’s Sept. 30 deadline to sell his charity casino to an unidentified buyer or face the two-year revocation of his license.
Gregory Albert, a Department of Safety administrative law judge, agreed with Sanborn’s lawyers that selling the business has a “public benefit” since it would restore some of the net income that nonprofits were receiving when gambling took place there. “There is absolutely some tangible benefit ..
. to the public. Would there also be a benefit to Mr.
Sanborn? 100%,” Albert said near the close of a 90-minute hearing Thursday. A short time later Albert added, “It would be a huge deal for Mr. Sanborn.
There is a massive amount of money for Mr. Sanborn that would go away if this does not go forward.” Mark Dell’Orfano, a state prosecutor representing the New Hampshire Lottery Commission’s compliance division, argued the public benefit of the casino had been “overblown.
” “Mr. Sanborn’s was probably the lowest-yielding casino in the state of New Hampshire” prior to suspension of its license last December, Dell’Orfano said. “He produced very little revenue for charities, and he charged them rents that essentially took away most of what they got.
” Sanborn’s lawyers pointed to $170,000 that charities received during the final year Sanborn had gambling there and some charity casinos across the state have long waiting lists for nonprofits that can’t get gaming dates to benefit them. The threshold legal issue Albert must resolve is whether lawyers for the Lottery Commission and Attorney General John Formella were correct that he lacked any authority to grant more time beyond the 90-day extension that Sanborn got last June. Zachary Hafer and Andrew Katz, Sanborn’s legal team, cited past Supreme Court decisions to contend that state hearing officers have broad powers to extend deadlines for affected parties.
They asked Albert to give Sanborn 15 days after the point when the commission and AG decided whether the buyer of the business was a “suitable” applicant for a license. Hafer and Katz insist the actions of the commission and the AG “scared off” at least two buyers by suggesting the new licensee could face some liability should Sanborn and his wife, House Speaker Pro Tem Laurie Sanborn, R-Bedford, be indicted on fraud charges. “If we say up, they say down, if we say left, they say right.
If it helps Andy Sanborn, the answer is no,” Hafer said. State regulators made Sanborn and prospective buyers face weeks of delays in processing the forced sale of the business, his lawyers maintained. “His reputation is in tatters, he has incurred massive financial damages as the value of this license has greatly diminished and he’s taken on enormous legal, banker and related fees,” Hafer said of Sanborn.
“He remains under criminal investigation. If they are trying to hurt him, they have succeeded mightily.” In response to claims of a delay, Assistant Attorney General Jessica King pointed out the Lottery only learned of this latest buyer in mid-July and an amended application was turned in on Aug.
22. Katz said the current buyer was “a highly experienced gaming operator” that, if licensed, would “generate millions of dollars for the state of New Hampshire.” Dell’Orfano said Sanborn’s lawyers have failed to show any evidence to back up their claims the state has acted in bad faith in trying to resolve the controversy.
“On this end of the ledger, we are civil servants, we don’t have any interest in an outcome that is any different than for the benefit for the people,” Dell’Orfano said. For his part, hearing officer Albert said the claims of bad faith will play no role in his decision. “You are both on parallel lines that will never cross,” Albert said to the legal adversaries.
“I don’t think I can get to a point where I can choose one side is good and one side is bad and I don’t think that moves the ball forward either.” Last December, hearing officer Michael King, who has since retired from state government, found Sanborn deliberately misled federal officials to obtain an $844,000 COVID-19 relief loan, some of which he used to buy three sports cars including one he gifted to his wife. In a filing with Albert, the unidentified buyer wrote that he intends to install a small number of historic horse racing (HHR) machines at the Concord Casino on South Main Street.
The slot-machine-like devices have led to an explosion of record profits for charity casinos that have them across the state. The buyer also said he hopes to build a new historic horse racing facility “some point in the future.” Sanborn has received Concord Planning and Zoning Board approval to build a larger casino, restaurant and microbrewery complex off Loudon and Sheep Davis roads in Concord.
State prosecutors charge that Sanborn spent some of those COVID-19 loan proceeds on engineering work for the proposed new casino. [email protected].
