Last year, My Friend’s Place, a homeless shelter and transitional housing program in Dover, received $135,000 from its partnership with Revo Casino. The money raised through charitable gaming helped the nonprofit keep its doors open for the dozens of people who rely on it every day.

But that funding, a lifeline for many nonprofits and charities across New Hampshire, could soon take a major hit.

A new proposal, House Bill 531, would cap the amount charities can receive from charitable gaming at $50,000. For My Friend’s Place, that would mean losing more than half of its donations.

Instead of going to charities, the extra dollars would be redirected to the state lottery commission.

A note in the bill estimates that capping charity gaming revenue at $50,000 would bring in an extra $18.6 million a year for the state lottery, with much of that money going to the Education Trust Fund.

For Susan Ford, the shelter’s executive director, the impact would be devastating. My Friend’s Place serves around 30 people every day, and without that funding, Ford said they simply couldn’t keep up.

“This bill would cripple our agency,” Ford told lawmakers at a hearing on Tuesday. “It’s crucial. People will die if we’re not there, especially in the temperatures that we’re seeing right now. I can’t express how much this bill would crucify our agency.”

New Hampshire’s charitable gaming model has been under scrutiny for a while — questions about charity selection, revenue distribution and how that money is spent have come up repeatedly.

A study committee last year flagged these issues but didn’t have time to dive deeper.

Rep. Dick Ames, the Jaffrey Democrat sponsoring the bill, said the goal is to smooth things out for charities if a future study committee decides to overhaul the current system and reduce their reliance on casino money.

“There’s a real risk here in that charities who are getting revenues may become used to a funding level that cannot be sustained,” Ames said. “In no way does this proposal suggest that any single charity currently getting $100,000 or $150,000 should be thought to be undeserving.”

One recommendation made in last year’s committee report suggested creating different classes of nonprofits, each with its own revenue cap. That discussion never progressed further, but it could be revisited.

Ames was also a member of the study committee.

Right now, charities benefiting from casino partnerships vary widely. Some support school sports, little leagues and cheerleading teams.

Others help veterans and their families fund service organizations like Rotary clubs and historical societies or provide housing and food for people in need.

Patrick Abrami, who chaired the gaming study committee said capping charity gaming revenue at $50,000 would hit many nonprofits hard.

“This really hurts the large charities that depend on these revenues,” said Abrami. “There are some that really need 100,000 or $125,000 – not everybody does.”

Abrami said the idea is to involve more charities so the revenue gets spread out.

Many charities and nonprofits struggle to secure a spot in the rotation at New Hampshire’s 11 operational casinos. The casinos have full control over which charities they support with no oversight from the Lottery Commission, and they typically partner with local organizations.

While some organizations have come to rely on funds from casinos to keep their programs running, others, like the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter, don’t factor it into their budgets because the amount they receive varies.

Last year, they received a little over $130,000, and in 2023, the nonprofit received $70,645.

Jane Goodman, Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter’s executive director, said about 5% of their fundraising money comes from charitable gaming, and a cap would still have consequences for them.

“Organizations like ours and many of my peer nonprofits that are here today rely on this money to meet essential needs that would otherwise fall to state and local government,” said Goodman. “It’s a cushion for our day-to-day work.”