Keno gambling on Portsmouth ballot again in 2023: Is 'third time the charm?'

PORTSMOUTH — Members of city charitable organizations, along with restaurant owners, lobbied for the passage of Keno gambling in the Nov. 7 municipal election.

The ballot question coming in two weeks will mark the third time Keno has been put to voters in Portsmouth, a popular tourist city with more restaurant and bar seats than residents.

Tom Beaudoin, a member of the Portsmouth Elks and lifelong city resident, said “having Keno would drastically increase the amount of funding we can give back.”

Portsmouth Elks Lodge members give about $100,000 each year “back to the community,” he said.

“I’d like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for putting it on the ballot,” Beaudoin told the City Council during a recent public hearing about the ballot question.

He asked city residents to vote to support the approval of Keno gambling in Portsmouth, “to try to make somebody’s day brighter, that actually needs it.”

Keno 603 is a New Hampshire Lottery electronic bingo game, where players can wager $1 to $25 per game.

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Beaudoin reported during the last year, the Elks provided 47 “full Christmas day food baskets to local families in need,” as well as 305 $25 gift cards to people in elderly housing and 304 welcome home kits to veterans who were finally granted housing.

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Frank Desper, commander of Portsmouth's American Legion, said the money the organization raises supports a host of youth sports teams, including Portsmouth Little League, Portsmouth’s Middle School basketball and Portsmouth’s Legion prep team.

The legion also provides scholarships to local students, he said.

“I don’t want to see any of these programs go away. Please vote yes for Keno,” Desper said.

Portsmouth restaurateur Eli Sokorelis also pushed for the adoption of Keno gambling in Portsmouth.

He told the council he offers Keno in his 12 Ocean Grill restaurant in Seabrook.

“Most couples come in at dinner or lunchtime, and they’ll play $10 because every five minutes there’s a game. It takes them about an hour to get through those games,” he said. “They have dinner, or their lunch, and they’re gone, that’s kind of how it works.”

“I’d like to see the city of Portsmouth be a contributor into the kindergarten program, which is very important,” Sokorelis added.

Will Portsmouth approve Keno in 2023 after close vote in 2021?

In the 2021 Portsmouth election, Keno narrowly failed to win approval, with a vote of 2,770 against and 2,649 in favor, a difference of just 121 votes.

In the 2019 election, 2,967 residents voted against approving Keno, while 2,454 supported it, according to records at the city clerk’s office.

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During the recent public hearing on the issue, former councilor and current council candidate Paige Trace pushed for Keno’s adoption.

“We realize that it’s not in everyone’s interest to have Keno … I, for one, believe that it’s time for Keno, its time has come,” Trace said. “It does too much good and could do too much good not to vote for it.”

She acknowledged some residents might not like “the idea of gambling.”

But Trace believes “that the majority of people playing Keno are simply doing it … for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, an hour during dinner.”

“And what it’s going to do for the Elks and other places like the Elks, what it’s going to do for the kindergarten funds at the state level, far outweighs in my mind the problems that might occur,” she said.

Mayor Deaglan McEachern believes “the third time will be the charm on this.”

“The folks who have been continually talking about this, have been some of our hardest working businesspeople in Portsmouth, but also some organizations that do a lot of good, the American Legion being one of them, the Elks being another,” McEachern said.

The mayor noted we live in a “day and age when anybody can gamble on a phone.”

Keno in New Hampshire

There are about 250 locations across the state that offer Keno, according to information from the New Hampshire Lottery Commission.

Area municipalities where Keno gambling has already been approved include Seabrook, Hampton, Rollinsford and Rochester, according to Lottery officials.

Keno typically raises more than $50 million in sales each year, with each location that offers it getting an 8% commission, according to Lottery officials.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Keno vote in Portsmouth in 2023: Charitable groups urge 'yes' vote