Concord Casino owner and past state Senator, Andy Sanborn, is contesting regulators’ determination that he is ineligible to possess a charitable gaming license. His legal team is pushing for a two-month delay in an administrative hearing to thoroughly scrutinize volumes of documents, a continuation of the Attorney General’s investigation regarding his aptness to maintain a gaming license.
It was alleged that Sanborn utilized a $844,000 federal COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan intended for COVID-19 relief to purchase three racing cars and cover the casino’s rent–payments allegedly stretching three years into the future. Missteps like this were among the various allegations sprung up against him. In contravention of guidelines, the casino’s name was suspiciously omitted from Sanborn’s loan application and the business description was revised to “Miscellaneous Services”.
Furthermore, additional complaints captained at the Concord Casino included questionable lowering of prizes during games, inconsistencies in charitable donations and recurrent technical issues with surveillance cameras. The Attorney General, John Formella, determined that Sanborn was neither suitable to hold a charitable gaming license nor to employ workers at his casino.
Sanborn’s attorney, Zachary Hafer, argues that extra time is essential to adequately prepare for the administrative hearing, an already complicated task due to the concurrent criminal investigation opened and referred by the Attorney General’s Office to the US Attorney’s Office in New Hampshire. However, the state insists the hearing is a “show cause” case where Sanborn must challenge the accuracy of the investigation findings.
The stakes are high, with a looming deadline at year’s end when Sanborn’s licenses to operate Concord Casino will be automatically invalidated, which could set off more legal trouble. The casino owner and his legal team signed up for the temporary restraining order issued by Merrimack County Superior Court as an eleventh-hour effort to ensure this doesn’t happen.
Hafer maintains that the state has yet failed to provide necessary information that would enable Sanborn to prepare his defense adequately. The Attorney General’s Office retaliates that the temporary injunction has not disputed the facts of the case. Amidst these disagreements, the casino owner is proposing a larger charity gambling facility on Loudon Road in Concord.
Sanborn meanwhile forges ahead with life after his political career as a commercial gambler while tensions around this case continue to simmer.
