That growth has come from existing products-sales of instant scratch tickets rose by nearly $100 million from 2017 to 2021, half of it during the pandemic-as well as several legislative changes.

“We’ve expanded the size of the lottery dramatically,” says Charles McIntyre, the NH Lottery’s executive director. In each of the past two years, it’s topped $500 million.

The NH Lottery Commission, which regulates the various forms of wagering permitted in the state, took in $304 million in total revenue in FY 2017. And the state has seen gambling-related revenues surge. Charitable gaming-the legal framework under which facilities like The Brook can offer casino-style play-has expanded. Over the past half-decade, lawmakers have authorized several new forms of betting. Legal gambling has been growing in the Granite State. In a separate room at one end of the sprawling building, more than a dozen poker games can be found.

People toss dice onto an electronic craps table. Rows of televisions display baseball games and horse races, as automated kiosks and live tellers take sports bets. Hundreds of brightly lit screens offer slot machine-style games with names like Rampage Rush, Buffalo Gold and Aztec Super Storm. The blackjack table is just one small piece of the action at The Brook, a 90,000-square-foot casino that opened in 2019 at a former greyhound track in Seabrook. But I wouldn’t want to be any other place.” Rossetti, a retired engineer from Saugus, Mass., had two small piles of chips on the table in front of him-one for betting, the other to take home. A dealer in a tie and vest handed out cards. On a Thursday afternoon in July, David Rossetti sat at a blackjack table wearing ear plugs to dampen the pop music that thumped through the casino’s main hall. Guests playing games at The Brook casino in Seabrook.

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