Andy Sanborn’s double-down appeal to find a way to sell his beleaguered Concord Casino after he faced a mountain of legal troubles was struck down by the state Supreme Court.
Sanborn, the former state senator, was ordered to cease operations and sell the casino on South Main Street in Concord three years ago after an investigation found he fraudulently applied for and received $844,000 in federal pandemic relief funds and used them for personal expenses.
The justices ruled that the New Hampshire Lottery & Gaming Commission acted lawfully when it revoked Sanborn’s gaming license and denied licenses to the prospective buyer who had agreed to purchase the now-shuttered casino and approved plans for a new facility on the city’s East Side. Under the proposed deal, Sanborn would have continued to have ties to Win Win Win (WWW), the LLC that owns the casino.
“It was not unlawful or unreasonable for the Commission to consider Sanborn’s continued association with WWW after the sale under the terms of the proposed transaction as negatively impacting the buyer’s and WWW’s suitability to be associated with charitable gaming,” the justices wrote.
For a sale to go through, both Sanborn and the buyer would have needed valid gaming licenses issued by the lottery commission.
The buyer’s identity was never made public.
Under the purchase and sale agreement, Sanborn would have leased the space to the buyer after the sale and would have remained a managing member of the LLC. He would have also received payments tied to the casino’s earnings for several years, and he would have collected proceeds from any future sale of the business unless certain conditions were met.
Court records show the purchase price for Win Win Win was split into multiple steps, with a portion due at closing and the bulk due after closing. The amount due at closing alone was more than ten times the cash the buyer had on hand.
The Attorney General’s office also decided that the buyer had not demonstrated the “financial capacity” to purchase the business.
The arrangements came after the Attorney General’s Office and the Lottery Commission found Sanborn “unsuitable” for charitable gaming for taking federal COVID relief funds and using that money to buy race cars for himself and his wife. Casinos were ineligible to receive the federal assistance that Sanborn sought through the Small Business Administration.
“We are pleased the Supreme Court has affirmed the Commission’s decisions in this matter, as those decisions were made in furtherance of the Commission’s responsibility to ensure that all charitable gaming operators meet the requirements of New Hampshire law,” Attorney General John Formella said in a statement.
Sanborn’s attorneys could not be reached for comment.
In court filings, Sanborn’s legal team has argued that the commission and the attorney general’s office tried to block the sale, acted in bad faith and “attempted to scare off buyers.”
In July, Sanborn pleaded guilty to federal theft of government funds for diverting more than $255,000 in COVID-19 relief money from the CARES Act for personal use. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for December.
Sanborn and his company, Win Win Win, still face separate criminal charges tied to the state’s Main Street Relief Fund program. The case is in the Merrimack County Superior Court.
