The second largest New Hampshire city is ready for another land-based casino. However, before the construction of the new casino begins, the developer, EC NH Real Estate Holdings Inc., has to ask for a permit from the Nashua City Planning Board.
Once the developer gets the green light, residents of Nashua City will see a new casino at the location that formerly hosted the Sears department store.
The permit ask meet has been rescheduled to tomorrow, August 3. If the meeting goes as planned, Pheasant Lane Mall will be the newest casino location in New Hampshire.
The Mint: Coming Soon
New Hampshire has legal land-based casinos. However, the context is slightly different than in other states. A casino is legal as long as a charitable organization is running it.
This has delayed the casino gaming expansion in the state. For instance, an online casino bill was first introduced in the state in 2021.
The casino bill was introduced almost two years after the legalization of sports betting. This may have convinced lawmakers that the state had had enough gambling expansion. As such, they did not pass the 2021 casino bill.
The bill was introduced again in 2022 and in March 2023. Both times the legislation failed to pass.
For the bill to pass, charitable organizations must be on board. Unfortunately, they feel online casinos will cannibalize land-based casinos.
Lawmakers tried to modify the bill to restrict online gaming to table games. This should have worked because land-based casinos are only allowed to run historic horse racing slots instead of the usual machines.
For now, New Hampshire can only settle for another land-based casino, The Mint. The casino developer will not modify the exterior of the casino building. However, the company will design the interior to hold 62 table games and 1,200 historic horse racing machines.
The Mint will sit 30 minutes away from another casino that is currently in the development stage. Concord Image Casino will be much smaller, holding 21 table games and 486 slot machines.
Perfect Location for a New Casino
Pheasant Lane Mall is a perfect location for a casino. According to Atlantic Capital Partners, the mall gets over 7 million visitors yearly. Moreover, the New England Real Estate Journal reported that over 60k vehicles pass near the mall.
With over 80k residents within a 3-mile radius of The Mint, the former Sears is an attractive location for a casino. Ideally, there is significant traffic around the mall that will quickly make the casino operations successful.
ELC Entertainment and Clairvest Group Inc will develop the Mint. These companies bought the Sears property. They also applied for an operating license and earned it, giving the organizations the go-ahead to run a casino.
Speaking to Globe Newswire, the Managing Partner of ELC Entertainment said his firm was happy to partner with Clairvest to build the best historical horse racing gaming site in Southern New Hampshire. ELC operates other gaming sites, including the Mint in Kentucky Downs.
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