Sanborn's Casino Appeal Goes Bust At New Hampshire Supreme Court

By Damien Fisher, NH Journal

Has-been high roller and convicted felon Andy Sanborn went bust again when the New Hampshire Supreme Court extended his losing streak Wednesday.

The court ruled that Sanborn can’t get his gaming license back long enough to sell his Win Win Win LLC, doing business as his Concord Casino, to a prospective buyer who didn’t pass the background check. Sanborn set up a $40 million deal with the unnamed buyer before the state blocked the sale.

But the court sided with the New Hampshire Lottery Commission and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office. Both the commission and the attorney general found the $40 million deal problematic, given that the buyer could not afford the asking price.

“The amount due at closing alone was over ten times the amount of cash the buyer had on hand, as reflected in the financial documentation he submitted with his applications,” Associate Justice Bryan Gould wrote in the unanimous decision. “On this record, we cannot conclude that the Commission’s and the AG’s determination that the buyer had not demonstrated the financial capacity to meet his obligations under the proposed transaction was unlawful or unreasonable.”

A further problem with the proposed sale was the fact that Sanborn and his other business entities would continue to be involved in the casino operations for several years under the terms of the deal. At the time, Sanborn was being forced to sell his casino after it was determined that he misused more than $250,000 of $844,000 he received in COVID relief money.

“Sanborn would have those ongoing connections to WWW despite the fact that the Commission previously found that WWW made misrepresentations on an EID loan application and that Sanborn spent funds from that loan on purchases not permitted by the loan, resulting in the forced-sale order,” Gould wrote. “Given this statutory backdrop and these prior proceedings, 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.”

Details on the sale were filed with the Supreme Court but later redacted after NHJournal reported on the terms. The buyer is known as W.F. in the documents obtained by NHJournal.

Administrative Law Judge Michael King found that Sanborn engaged in deception when he applied for the $844,000 in COVID loans and that Sanborn spent the money inappropriately, including on the purchase of a Porsche and a Ferrari for his wife, former Rep. Laurie Sanborn (R-Bedford).

King suspended Sanborn’s gaming license and ordered him to sell the casino business or lose the license altogether. The casino business is virtually worthless without the license. After numerous extensions and failed deals, the license was finally revoked in October 2024.

It’s a tough break for the former Republican state senator, who is facing an upcoming sentencing hearing on his federal conviction for theft of government money. He’s also facing a pending trial on separate state charges that he defrauded the New Hampshire Main Street Relief program.

In addition to possible prison time, Sanborn will have to make restitution for the $250,000 COVID fraud.

Maybe he can sell the Porsche.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.