Earlier this month, state lottery regulators moved to strip Concord Casino of its license to operate after investigators found the casino’s owner, former state Sen. Andy Sanborn, allegedly used $844,000 in COVID-related bailout loans to fund a lavish lifestyle including sports cars purchased for himself and his wife.
For years before the New Hampshire Lottery Commission took action, publicly available records show Sanborn had been collecting fees from charities he partnered with far above the percentage charged by other charitable gaming facilities, and in apparent violation of state law.
The fees Sanborn collected from charities are not part of the state’s investigation into his casino. In fact, the unusual arrangement was done with the Lottery Commission’s apparent approval, and resulted in Sanborn retaining for himself half of the proceeds intended for charities, according to publicly available reports.
