Gov. Chris Sununu signed a wide-ranging bill last week that expands how much people in the state can spend at charitable gaming casinos.

Senate Bill 120 allows people to spend up to $50 per individual wager in a game of chance, such as poker, blackjack, and roulette — up from the current cap of $10. 

The law also dramatically increases the amount that each player can spend in total in a game of chance, from $150 per game to $2,500 per game. 

And it reduces how frequently charitable gaming facilities must apply for licenses. Currently, those facilities must re-apply every year; moving forward they will need to do so only every three years. 

Facilities will still need to file a statement every year disclosing whether any of the details they provided in their application have changed that year. 

Supporters of the bill said it would allow charitable gaming events to raise much more money, which they said would benefit both the businesses that run the charitable events and the charities themselves.

While New Hampshire doesn’t allow traditional casinos, it does allow facilities to offer machine-based or table-based games of chance as long as they are tied to charities. Under the law, each charity in the state can partner with a charitable gaming operator for up to 10 gaming dates per year. 

Sen. Tim Lang, a Sanbornton Republican and the sponsor of SB 120, said raising the spending caps would bring more money into the gaming facilities and help the operators combat a workforce shortage by allowing them to raise wages for their dealers and employees. 

And Lang stressed that the new limits are not mandatory; facilities and charities can set wager limits or overall spend limits lower if they would like, he noted. 

The bill passed the Senate on a voice vote, but it narrowly cleared the House, 202-182. House Democrats argued the increase in the wager limit from $10 to $50 was too big a leap and argued for an increase to $25 instead. 

The law took effect on July 1. 

Earlier this year, the House killed a separate effort by Lang to legalize online gambling in the state, after charitable gaming operators and charities raised concerns that it could cut into their revenues.