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"House lawmakers are gearing up for a key vote Wednesday on legalizing a casino in New Hampshire, in a tense battle reminiscent of another one fought at the Statehouse 50 years ago.In 1963, what's now known as the lottery was called the sweepstakes, and longtime gambling supporters said the debate was similar to what lawmakers are having now.\"I'll give you the great quote from Reader's Digest,\" said Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, D-Manchester. \"They said that if Gov. John King signed the lottery bill, New Hampshire would crumble. Guess what? Reader's Digest crumbled, and New Hampshire is still here.\"Former state Rep. and Sen. Jim Splaine, D-Portsmouth, spent more than three decades in the Legislature and has never supported another expansion of legalized gambling. He said that in 1963, the sweepstakes was only sold in liquor stores and was also tied to racing.\"Now, I don't know if there's many places you cannot buy lottery tickets,\" Splaine said. \"Again, nothing necessarily wrong with that. I don't think this is an issue of people being able to gamble. They can certainly do that in New Hampshire and elsewhere. It's a question of how big do you want it to become?\"Over the years, the lottery has contributed nearly $1.5 billion toward education in New Hampshire, and its games continue to grow in popularity. A casino would be different, but Gov. Maggie Hassan said she's confident it would have a positive effect on the state.\"We are capable of managing this ourselves,\" Hassan said. \"We create our own destiny. We keep this gambling activity and revenues in our state to fund our priorities that move the state forward.\"In the most recent Powerball drawing, New Hampshire residents spent more than $9 million on tickets. Many lawmakers said the lottery shows that gambling is already in New Hampshire, and now it's the Legislature's call whether to keep it at the corner market."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.wmur.com/article/casino-fight-reminiscent-of-lottery-battle/5181754>