Poker lovers across New Hampshire have found a place to play for money at the state's proliferating charitable game rooms. Now, many lawmakers are eyeing a cut for the state.

The so-called poker tax plan won a big endorsement when, as he announced the state's widening budget shortfall this week, Gov. John Lynch's announced his support for the tax. Lynch called the idea a way to "close the loophole" on charitable game taxes (the state already taxes bingo and Lucky 7 games).

This week, a Senate committee approved the plan, which goes to the Senate floor next week. But the initiative, which lawmakers said could bring in $5 million to $6 million a year, could have a tough road ahead.

Representatives of the charities that benefit from the card game rooms have told senators that they fear taxation could squeeze the game rooms and force them to close.

"The charities are very upset," said Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, a Manchester Democrat who voted for the plan this week but hopes to fine-tune it later in finance committee. "They think, at this point, they will be losing out."

Sen. Michael Downing, a Salem Republican who voted against the plan, said card tables at Rockingham Park bring in $1.3 million a year for local charities such as the Boys and Girls Club and the Knights of Columbus.

"I think we've got to be careful," Downing said. "Because if we force them out of business, then how will these charities do the work they were doing?"

Meanwhile, the bill's plan to increase the maximum bid in such games from $2 to $5 - a sweetener that game operators say could cushion the impact of taxation - may be a non-starter for House lawmakers.

"From what I hear . . . the House is adamantly opposed to a $5 chip," D'Allesandro said.

For years permitted under informal local arrangements, charitable card games for money were regularized under state law in 2006. Poker rooms that give a cut to charity have grown rapidly since. Earlier this year, the state's pari-mutuel commission estimated that $50 million a year is spent on charitable games in New Hampshire.

In the Concord area, such rooms include Sharky's, in an old Manchester mill building, and card tables at the Belmont dog track, which are open Wednesdays through Sundays and feature blackjack, craps, poker and roulette, according to the track's website.

Under current law, the operators of such rooms must give 35 percent of revenue to charity. The bill under discussion now would change the calculation: The state would levy a 10 percent tax on each chip cashed in, and the charities would get 8 percent. (Lawmakers say that's a close approximation to the charities' current cut.)

For D'Allesandro's part, he hopes to find the sweet spot on taxing poker: enough to generate revenue without closing down the businesses. "I think there should be some degree of tax," he said. "Particularly in light of the fact that we tax bingo and we have a tax on Lucky 7."

Sen. Harold Janeway, a Webster Democrat who also voted for the plan, said he thinks its only fair to tax poker, but he, too, wants to find the right amount. Under the current proposal, he said, people would nearly "have to put down $1.20 to bet a dollar . . . so that would be quite a risk."

"It's not unlike continuing to raise the cigarette tax until nobody buys anymore and there are no revenues," he said.

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