clarinews@clarinet.com (01/18/90)
CONCORD, N.H. (UPI) -- New Hampshire lawmakers voted Wednesday to reject a plan to introduce legalized betting on professional sports, despite support for it by state lottery officials. The House Regulated Revenues Committee voted 9-6 to recommend that the full House kill the proposal. State Sweepstakes Director James Wimsatt told the committee that the plan would generate about $5 million a year. But Rep. Arthur Klemm Jr., R-Windham, said that wasn't good enough. Klemm said the game would cost about $2.5 million to set up. He said if the states wanted to establish a new lottery game it should find one that would bring in ``real money.'' He also said sports betting had not lived up to revenue expectations in Oregon, which has a much larger population than New Hampshire. New Hampshire has the nation's oldest state lottery, which was established in 1964 to raise money for education programs. Several proposals in recent years to introduce legalized sports betting have been rejected.