Andy Sanborn received all the extensions he was entitled to and more to sell his Concord Casino with his gaming license intact, an administrative judge ruled Monday.

Now that Sanborn’s time has run out, Judge Gregory Albert determined the state may go ahead and revoke his gambling license, which it’s been trying to do for months.  

“The commission may move forward with the revocation of the respondent’s license,” Albert said in his order finding that the pending motions between the Sanborn and New Hampshire Lottery Commission regarding the sale of the casino are moot.

Albert said Sanborn is free to file suit in superior court but has exhausted his legal options through the state’s administrative appeals process.

The decision comes following an unfavorable determination from the Lottery Commission regarding the sale agreement between Sanborn’s business Win Win Win, which operates Concord Casino, and a potential buyer on Oct 30.

Sanborn’s attorneys have said that determination had nothing to do with the buyer's credentials. In public hearings, attorneys for the state have chosen to keep the details of their decision under wraps. 

Originally, Sanborn was given until Sept. 30 to sell the casino after he was deemed unsuitable to be involved with charitable gaming following an investigation by the New Hampshire Attorney General and the Lottery Commission into his handling of COVID relief funds.

The investigation found Sanborn to have fraudulently obtained and misused $844,000 in pandemic loan funds through his business, Win Win Win, which operates Concord Casino on South Main Street in Concord. He was arrested and faces charges on similar accusations related to his other business, the Draft sports bar.

Albert granted Sanborn several extensions to sell the casino, taking into account the public interest in its charitable contributions and tax revenue. 

“On balance, though, the  public’s interests have been satisfied because the commission provided a suitability determination at a time when (Win Win casinoWin’s) license had not been revoked,” said Albert. “Whether that suitability determination was properly made is a question for the courts — not this ALJ.”

If Sanborn chooses to challenge the state's suitability determination in court and the ruling is upheld, his gaming license will be revoked for two years. This would also prevent him from selling the casino during that period, meaning one of New Hampshire's 12 active casinos would remain offline for an additional two years.

When it was open, Concord Casino had consistently made some of the smallest charitable contributions among the state's active gambling establishments. In 2022, the casino allocated $148,267 to charity, a figure that rose slightly to $173,095 in 2023. However, Sanborn would deduct a rental fee that charities had to pay to secure a spot on the casino's schedule, which often took half of their proceeds. By law, charities and non-profits are supposed to receive 35% of a casino’s gross revenue.

This practice of deducting rent from payouts was put to an end earlier this year when House Bill 1203 was signed into law.

Concord Casino's charitable contributions paled in comparison to those of the state's largest casino. For example, The Brook, donated $4.1 million to charities in 2023 alone.

Besides Concord Casino, Sanborn still has plans to develop a 43,000-square-foot casino off Loudon Road, even though his lawyers have said he no longer wants to be involved with charitable gaming in the state. 

Win Win Win has also filed a lawsuit in Merrimack Superior Court against the New Hampshire Lottery Commission to prevent any felony or misdemeanor convictions related to his ownership of Win Win Win from affecting the buyer after a sale.

Last month, Sanborn was indicted on charges of theft by deception and unauthorized taking stemming from an ongoing criminal investigation into his use of pandemic relief funds. He’s accused of inflating his 2019 gross receipts to receive $188,000 more from the Main Street Relief Fund grant than he was eligible to receive and then used that money to pay off a mortgage on a lake house owned by his wife, State Rep. Laurie Sanborn.

Sruthi Gopalakrishnan can be reached at sgopalakrishnan@cmonitor.com