CONCORD, N.H. — A special gambling panel charged with developing regulations for a future casino voted Friday to recommend that New Hampshire legalize one casino with up to 5,000 video slot machines and 150 table games.
The state’s Gaming Regulatory Oversight Authority voted 8 to 1 to OK draft legislation that authorizes a new commission to begin licensing a casino. The Legislature will consider the bill next year.
Attorney General Joseph Foster praised the panel’s work to include strong regulations for the casino, but voted against the proposal. Foster said his office will fight the bill when lawmakers consider it next year. He said he recognizes that charities benefit from games of chance in New Hampshire, but legalizing a commercial casino would foster more social costs.
‘‘We’re going from little leagues to big leagues in terms of the dollar cost of problem gamblers,’’ Foster said.
The panel was created after the House killed a casino bill that passed the Senate with strong backing from Governor Maggie Hassan. The bill rejected in May would have allowed construction of one casino with 5,000 slot machines and 150 table games. Hassan said she hoped the panel would address concerns opponents expressed about inadequate regulations.
Casino supporters are concerned that the state will lose revenue to Massachusetts, which is licensing three casinos and one video slots parlor.
Hassan reiterated those concerns Friday and urged ‘‘all legislators, especially those who previously expressed concerns about regulatory oversight, to fully consider the authority’s carefully developed recommendations as they move through the legislative process.’’
The panel hired WhiteSands Gaming to help draft the bill, and Representative Richard Ames, the panel’s chairman, said he would sponsor it.
The proposed regulations are much more extensive than were in the bill killed by the House, but limits on the number of video slots allowed and other details about a new casino are nearly identical.
For example, the new commission could only approve a single casino and charge an $80 million initial license fee, the same as allowed in the defeated bill. Like the Senate bill, the special panel is recommending a minimum capital investment.
New Hampshire’s House has never approved casino legislation, but House majority leader Steve Shurtleff, a Concord Democrat, said that could change with stronger regulations in the new bill.