Sanborn Fights Back: Appeals Revoked Concord Casino License
Contentious Concord casino licensing fight takes another twist as owner Sanborn files appeal of revocation.
A casino licensing fight continues to play out in Concord. © Pixabay
Key Facts:
- Casino owner Anthony Sanborn was accused of misappropriating COVID Relief funds back in August 2023.
- The former New Hampshire Senator was forced to sell the casino but was never charged.
- The sale has continued for over a year, with legal maneuvers from both sides.
- New arrest for fraud involving the same COVID Relief in October further muddied the waters.
The strange saga of the little casino that couldn’t continue in Concord, New Hampshire, with former State Senator Andy Sanborn filing a last-minute appeal of his licensing being revoked.
The casino was closed up in December of last year over allegations from the State Attorney General John Formella that Sandborn had misused COVID-19 funds to purchase three luxury sports cars.
The courts originally agreed to let Mr. Sanborn attempt to sell the tiny casino if he found a buyer before his current license expired. With less than a dozen tables and only about 30 slots, the so-called casino’s most valuable asset was this license because it allows for betting on historical horse racing via slot machines.
This betting has proved hugely popular, with the so-called HHR machines bringing in roughly 3x more than table games in any given month in New Hampshire.
The fight that ensued over Mr. Sanborn’s attempt to sell his shuttered casino license had more twists and turns than an F1 race, and there were so many missed deadlines that even the courts, at times, struggled to keep up.
The original late June deadline came and went. Still, by the next deadline in September, it seemed Mr. Sanborn had found a buyer and was waiting on the state to assess the suitability of that buyer for licensing. Sanborn’s attorneys requested and were granted another deadline extension until the end of November.
Still, the state apparently continued to drag its feet in approving the buyer. In the meantime time, Formella’s office filed new fraud charges in October alleging that not only were the Covid funds misused, but that Mr. Sanborn inflated the value of his business to receive more funds than he should have as well as concealing the fact the funds would go to a casino. Casinos were explicitly exempted from EIDL funds.
Court Rules That Sanborn License Has Expired
Judge Greg Albert ruled that Mr Sanborn and his LLC Win Win Win had run out of both time and appeals on November 21st. Deeming the license expired, he ruled that further filings were moot, as without the license, there was unlikely to be any sale, as it was the only asset held by Win Win Win that had any value.
This week, Mr. Sanborn appealed that decision, stating that he believed the state had not only intentionally filed the fraud charges to scare off buyers but had also attempted to delay the licensing proceedings for his potential buyers until after any court-appointed deadlines.
He asks that the court determine a date for when the suitability studies will be completed by the AG’s office and set the expiration date past that.
New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Jessica King also said in court this week that the state considers the license revoked due to the court’s November ruling, and the matter settled. It remains to be seen if the court will allow Mr. Sanborn more time or if this is finally the end of the Concord Casino.
