New Hampshire

Sports betting in both retail and online formats has been fully legal in New Hampshire since 2019. However, the Granite State’s sports betting legislation revolves around a monopoly, which means DraftKings has complete control over the sports betting scene.

New Hampshire bettors can legally wager on collegiate sports events but with restrictions. They cannot wager on college basketball games taking place in the state, and they cannot bet on any in-state college, no matter where the game or event is taking place. Outside of in-state colleges, NH bettors are also not permitted to wager on politics or eSports.

Horse racing is also legal in New Hampshire despite the state's lack of racetracks. Fantasy competitions are also legal in the state, so residents have full access to a handful of DFS products, including DraftKings and FanDuel DFS.

Online sports betting in The Granite State

House Bill 480 legalized sports betting in New Hampshire in 2019, but the state soon signed two more bills into law in 2021. One of the bills, HB 330, allowed residents to place in-game wagers, which was not offered initially when sports betting was legalized.

Sports betting in NH operates in three tiers: tier one includes pre-game wagers, tier two includes in-game wagers, and tier three includes all bets not included in the first two tiers. Tier three essentially allows the New Hampshire Lottery to offer its own bets through lottery retailers, but it hasn’t acted on this up to this point.

When HB 480 was signed in 2019, New Hampshire joined the evergrowing list of states with legalized sports betting. Despite joining that list and declaring that both online and retail sports betting would be legal, NH decided it would be handling its sports betting market much differently than other states.

After the sports betting bill was signed, DraftKings Sportsbook approached the New Hampshire Lottery with a unique proposal that would allow the operator to have a monopoly over the state’s sports betting market. This was just one of 13 proposals that the NH Lottery would receive, but in the words of the Godfather, DraftKings gave them an offer they couldn’t refuse.

No, they didn’t threaten the state, but instead, they offered them 51% of all the revenue they made if the state promised to keep other operators from joining the market. Once the contract was signed, if the state decided to add more online operators, then DraftKings tax obligation would decrease from 51% to 21%. Since they want to capitalize off sports betting as much as possible, the state has held up its end of the agreement and has kept the market strictly for DK.

All legal NH sports betting apps in 2024:

Sports betting & gambling legislation in NH

For residents in New Hampshire to place a legal sports wager either online or in person, they must be at least 18 years old. With that, it is also illegal in the state to wager on events where a majority of the players are below the legal gambling age. All rules and regulations for sports betting in NH are enforced by the New Hampshire Lottery Commission.

One of the nicest aspects of sports betting in New Hampshire is the tax rate, or lack thereof. Bettors are not subject to an income tax, which doesn’t just apply to sports betting winnings in the Granite State. Of course, federal tax still applies to bettors, and that tax rate is 24%.

With the provisions that were made in 2021 by HB 330 and HB 354, the state seems content with its system. As a result, New Hampshire residents shouldn’t expect any changes to the market moving forward. This also pertains to markets like iGaming and online poker, which remain fully illegal in NH.

Most recent updates from the NH sports betting scene

• April 26, 2024: Former University of New Hampshire standout football star Dylan Laube was selected in the 6th round by the Las Vegas Raiders. He is currently (+25000) to win Offensive Rookie of the Year.

• February 19, 2024: Since partnering with DraftKings four years ago, sports betting in the state has contributed $100 million to public education. 

• December 22, 2023: Player spending on sports betting in New Hampshire rises in November, reaching $78.5 million, with most of the wagers, $67.9 million, being placed online. Although this is a month-on-month increase of 2.0%, the total figure is down 15.7% compared to the same month last year. However, it represents the highest monthly total in the state in eight months.

• December 12, 2023: Former state senator and current casino owner Andy Sanborn undergo a contentious hearing to defend his gaming license. He faces allegations of fraudulently acquiring nearly $844,000 in Small Business Administration (SBA) loans and misusing the funds for inappropriate purposes.

In-person sports betting sites and locations

The maximum amount of retail sportsbooks in the state is ten, and as we head into 2024, three are currently in operation. All of the locations are partnered with DraftKings and feature sports betting kiosks.

Expanding the retail market is undoubtedly in the cards for New Hampshire, as 16 communities have already voted to approve opening a DraftKings Sportsbook location in their respective area.

Sports betting in neighboring states

Since sports betting legislation was enacted in Vermont in January 2024, all three of New Hampshire’s neighboring states now offer some form of sports betting.

If residents of New Hampshire are looking to cross state lines but remain active when it comes to sports betting, they can click the states’ names down below to get a full scope of their legislation and active sports betting apps.

Sports betting revenue impact on New Hampshire's economy

Under the current sports betting bill in New Hampshire, there cannot be more than ten retail and five mobile sportsbooks active in the state at one time. That rule doesn’t make much difference regarding online sportsbooks since DraftKings already has a monopoly over the state. As far as retail locations go, the fee for a license in the state is unknown. Still, all locations looking to become retail facilities must get voter approval from their specific city.

The tax rate in NH is 51%, which only applies to DraftKings since they opted into that deal when securing their monopoly on the state. Even with that monopoly controlling the sports betting scene, New Hampshire still does well regarding monthly revenue reports, especially in the tax revenue category, for obvious reasons.

By no stretch of the imagination is New Hampshire a larger state in the U.S.; in fact, they are 41st in overall population. Despite that, N.H. is not unfamiliar with months where they pull in $90-$100 million in betting handle.

N.H. sports betting revenue in March 2024:

• Online & mobile betting handle: $65.0m

• Retail betting handle: $7.6m

New Hampshire sports betting record months:

• Sports betting handle: March 2023 ($103,390,747)

• Revenue: January 2023 ($12,317,536)

• Tax income: January 2023 ($5,604,577)

N.H. sports betting revenue in 2024