The state Attorney General’s Office indicated Friday that it will not allow charitable gaming to resume at Andy Sanborn’s Concord Casino because it does not approve of Sanborn’s pending sale of the venue to a new owner.
If the decision stands, it would mark the end of the state’s nearly two-year effort to banish Sanborn from charitable gaming over his alleged misuse of $844,000 in pandemic aid.
It would also eliminate what could have been significant revenue for public education in the state, which shares in casino revenues.
Sanborn has been looking for a buyer for months because the state ordered him to close and sell his casino in December over allegations of pandemic aid fraud. The judge who issued that order gave Sanborn limited time to sell. That deadline has been extended several times but could come next month, if not earlier.
Meanwhile, the state is pursuing felony theft charges against Sanborn and his casino for alleged pandemic aid fraud.
Neither the Attorney General’s Office nor Sanborn’s lawyers would elaborate on the state’s licensing decision during a hearing Friday, and the findings are not open to the public. Sanborn’s attorneys said that the state’s concerns are not with the buyer personally, who has not been identified publicly.
“There is no criticism of the buyer’s background,” said Adam Katz, one of Sanborn’s lawyers, during the hearing. “There is no criticism of the buyer’s credentials. There is not one blemish on the buyer’s record that the suitability letter cites. The buyer is spotless from the perspective of the state.”
Senior Assistant Attorney General Jessica King cut Katz off before he said more about the state’s findings, saying the state is required to keep licensing suitability decisions confidential. Katz said the state has refused to give the buyer an opportunity to resolve its concerns.
Katz’s comments suggest the state could have raised concerns about the deal’s proposed financing, which would have also been part of a license suitability review. The details of the 75-page purchase and sale agreement have not been made public.
Sanborn’s legal team and the state have been engaged in a legal fight over the licensing case for more than a year. Katz made clear Friday that that fight will continue if the licensing decision stands.
He reiterated prior allegations by Sanborn’s legal team that the state is intentionally trying to punish Sanborn by ordering him to sell his casino and then preventing him from actually doing so.
“Again, there’s been no question about the buyer’s credentials, the buyer’s personality, the buyer’s reputation. All of that is good to go from the perspective of the state,” Katz said. “So far as we can tell, it seems like the answer is (the state does) not like the order (allowing Sanborn to sell). Lawyers can be too quick to call proceedings Kafkaesque, but this one seems to me to fit the bill.”
King, of the Attorney General’s Office, pushed back on that Friday.
“This narrative that the state is trying to obstruct and prevent the sale is simply false,” she said. “The (New Hampshire) Lottery Commission has met with the buyer, many, many, many times. It has had constant communication with the buyer. It has gone out of its way to ensure that the buyer had all of the things necessary to complete a suitability determination, and thereafter has continued to talk to the buyer.”
This article is being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.
