New Hampshire Responsible Gambling Policies
New Hampshire‘s sports betting bill H 480 was the first major expansion of gambling in the Granite State since the lottery was introduced in 1964.
With the ability to bet on sports online, responsible gambling has grown in importance. The information includes providing assistance and tools to self-manage gambling activity for individuals who may develop gambling problems.
http://gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/billText.aspx?sy=2019&id=217&txtFormat=pdf&v=current
There are already state and national nonprofits that assist and prevent problem gambling.
The New Hampshire Council on Problem Gambling has an extensive history of providing information and counseling.
New Hampshire’s new online sportsbooks will need to comply with responsible gambling rules, which includes the ability for patrons to self-exclude, set betting limits and find links to get help where necessary.
Bill H 480 outlined the setup of a committee to oversee responsible gambling for online sportsbooks.
While the majority of bettors in the Granite State will enjoy gambling responsibly, assisting those that do develop issues is essential for everyone.
This page covers the elements of an effective responsible gaming policy in-depth and examines NH Council on Problem Gambling’s services.
Online sports betting sites in New Hampshire: Responsible gambling policy
There are three elements that online gambling sites put in place to comply with responsible gambling requirements: self-assessment questions (information), links to resources to get help and tools to manage your online betting.
We explain each element in more detail below.
These resources are easily accessible. In some states, you’ll find the links in the header of every page. In others, you will find the links in the footer area.
Self-assessment
For many bettors, the difference between feeling bad after losing some bets and a genuine gambling problem will not be clear.
Over the years, experts have developed a series of questions that can help define it. The questions cover your mood, deceptive behaviors and relationships with your friends and family involving money and gambling.
If you go through a list of questions and answer “yes” to more than one or two, the policy recommends that you speak to an expert. These questions help individuals be honest with themselves about gambling problems and are useful for friends and family.
Example self-assessment questions:
- Have you ever gambled with money you could not afford to lose?
- Have the stakes you gamble with increased to maintain the same level of excitement?
- Have you ever gambled to win back money that you have lost?
- Have you ever taken a loan or sold possessions to gamble?
- Have you ever considered that you might have a problem with gambling?
- Have friends or family ever criticized your gambling?
- Has gambling activity every triggered stress, anxiety and health problems?
- Has gambling ever caused money problems for you or your loved ones?
Links to assistance organizations
Having been through a self-assessment, individuals may realize that they need to seek further information.
Having contact information for local and national assistance organizations on the same page as the questions is essential.
For residents of New Hampshire, there are local and national help centers available. Both will provide discreet counseling and advice. You can also call these services if you are worried about the behavior of a friend or loved one.
If picking up the phone is difficult, then there are also email addresses for both organizations.
Here is the contact information:
- NH Council on Problem Gambling http://nhproblemgambling.org/Home.aspx
- National Problem Gambling Helpline https://www.ncpgambling.org/
Tools to manage your gambling activity
Tools designed to help problem gamblers manage their betting were well-established long before sports betting came to New Hampshire.
These fall into three main categories:
- Betting Limits: Tools will allow you to set maximums for your betting. These limits can be per bet, per day or could limit the amount you can deposit in a given period. If you hit your limit for the day (or week/month), it can help avoid self-defeating behavior, such as betting big in an attempt to recoup losses.
- Time Out: You can organize short-term time-outs from the betting sites. These can range from 24 hours up to a few months. During these periods, you will be locked out of your account. Customer service will not be able to restore your access until the time-out period expires.
- Self-Exclusion: There are significant differences between time-out sessions and full self-exclusion. To exclude, you will usually need to withdraw all your funds first. You then arrange a time of one year or more. You will not be able to access your account at all during this time. Self-exclusion will not automatically lapse. You will need to contact customer support once your one year (or more) period has elapsed.
Problem gambling and retail sportsbooks in New Hampshire
Until the final rules are published, the format for self-excluding from live (retail) sportsbooks will not be clear.
Based on other states, individuals will be able to request that the sportsbooks exclude them for a set period of time. Applying for self-exclusion can be done at the books, or via the office of the NH Lottery, which oversees gambling activity in the Granite State.
Other states stipulate that casinos share information on excluded bettors. This condition means that once you self-exclude from one casino, you will not be able to gamble at any of them.
Note that the online brands work independently of each other and the live venues, so you’ll need to self-exclude separately from each online sports betting site.
New Hampshire Lottery and responsible gambling
The Granite State lottery is unusual in not providing a direct link to a responsible gambling page from its homepage.
It also lacks self-exclusion information, though there are links to help organizations buried in the news archives. This deficiency is surprising given the new online games, instant-play retail games and keno options.
Wrapping up: New Hampshire responsible gambling
While NH was one of the first states to have a lottery, and among the first to legislate for sports betting, this state is relatively undeveloped in terms of responsible gambling.
With the new online betting sites coming soon, we expect this area will be up to speed quickly.