New criminal charges against Concord Casino could jeopardize its potential resale

A week after the attorney general’s office charged former Sen. Andy Sanborn with fraud related to pandemic aid, it announced Friday that it had filed identical charges against his Concord casino.

The new charges represent the biggest threat yet to Sanborn’s ability to sell his casino. A conviction for theft would ban the casino from holding a gambling license for ten years. While it is unclear whether the same loss of license would be transferred to a new owner, the attorney general’s office declined to assure Sanborn’s buyer that this would not be the case.

A conviction would also have repercussions for the state. Concord Casino has the last available historic horse racing license to offer slot-like games for at least the next seven years. Lawmakers this year imposed a moratorium on new licenses to give the relatively new market time to grow.

While the state shares in all nonprofit gambling revenue, historic horse racing brings in much more than table games like poker and blackjack. According to the New Hampshire Lottery Commission, the state collected about $640,000 from table games and $2.7 million from historic horse racing in August. This revenue is used to fund public education.

The attorney general’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Sanborn’s attorney, Zachary Hafer, accused the state Friday of trying to thwart a sale by suing the casino separately from Sanborn.

“Given that Win Win Win is a one-person limited liability company of which Mr. Sanborn is the sole member, the Attorney General cannot (and will not) allege that Win Win Win took actions different from those of Mr. Sanborn.” , Hafer wrote in an email. “There is therefore only one reason to burden Win-Win-Win: trying to block a win-win-win sale that would benefit taxpayers, charities and the local community. This is a deeply concerning development and we look forward to holding the AG accountable in court.”

Sanborn is scheduled to be arraigned in Merrimack County Superior Court on Tuesday.

He has not publicly identified his buyer, although his lawyers have disclosed that the person has applied for a gambling license. The buyer has been waiting for a decision from the state on his application since at least September.

The indictments accuse Win Win Win, the registered name of the casino, of theft by deception and theft by unauthorized taking. The state indicted Sanborn earlier this month on the same charges related to the same alleged activity.

The charges announced Friday allege that the casino defrauded the Main Street Relief Fund, a federal pandemic relief program, of nearly $190,000 in 2020 by misrepresenting its losses in order to qualify for a higher to qualify for payout. As a result, prosecutors allege the casino received $286,600, $188,474 more than it should have received.

The charges also allege that the casino misrepresented that it had been in operation for at least a year, a requirement for participation, when it had not.

These charges are different from the fraud investigation the state launched against Sanborn nearly 14 months ago.

In that case, the attorney general’s office accuses Sanborn of misrepresenting the nature of his business to obtain nearly $844,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loans, another pandemic relief fund that was not open to casinos. The state also alleges Sanborn used the money to enrich himself by spending $181,125 on race cars, two Porsches and a Ferrari, among other things.

Neither Sanborn nor his casino have been charged in connection with this investigation. But that case led the New Hampshire Lottery Commission and the attorney general’s office to revoke the casino’s gaming license last year.

An administrative law judge overseeing the case instead revoked the casino’s license and ordered Sanborn to close the business by January. Sanborn has been trying to get a deal done ever since. The judge set a September deadline for the sale, but the judge who took over the case this year gave Sanborn additional time without a clear deadline.

Judge Gregory Albert ruled in September that the loss to the charities that benefited from the partnership with Concord Casino was significant enough to give Sanborn more time to sell. In its final year of operation, the casino provided about $170,000 in Concord Casino revenue to nearly 30 charities before the state closed it in December.

The attorney general’s office questions Albert’s finding.