NEW GAMBLING CASINO IN THE CARDS FOR LITTLETON
By Bernie Marvin
NEW GAMBLING CASINO IN THE CARDS FOR LITTLETON; IT'S A LOT CLOSER THAN LAS VEGAS OR ATLANTIC CITY! This column is for those folks who used to, or still do, travel each year to Las Vegas or Atlantic City to spend their 10-day vacations playing the tables or slots, eating way too much hotel food, then returning to the gambling devices where they might win some serious money for their efforts.
I just found out that a casino developer on Meadow Street in Littleton has purchased a future gambling site for a project that will spend up to $10 million and begin work early in 2027. Slated for the program will be a new restaurant, electric gaming devices, table games, and other gambling paraphernalia.
Last week, Granite State Gaming and Hospitality revealed plans that would benefit the community and many local nonprofit organizations. The company said some of those organizations would receive portions of revenue from gambling operations that will benefit their operations.
In February 2026, a casino developer from Chicago, Greg Carlin, began pursuing a casino opportunity several years earlier, when he looked at opportunities in New Hampshire following changes in state gaming laws. At that time, he purchased property that houses the Staples Office Supply store as well as an adjacent property to the north where the former Tire Warehouse was located.
The Littleton casino complex will be modeled after a club in Rochester, New Hampshire, which opened two years ago. Carlin is also the owner of the Beach Club Casino in Hampton Beach.
According to media reports and New Hampshire Public Radio, the New Hampshire legislature began a seven-year moratorium on horse racing machines. The Littleton operation will offer other types of machines built on random number generators, similar to those in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, which are popular gambling hubs in the United States.
Other businesses in the area of the Staples operation in Littleton, which includes a state liquor store, will remain on site. Staples is presently operating a 23,000 ft. building, and construction is planned to begin at the end of June, with an opening targeted for early 2027. Carlin came to Littleton in 2023 to present his plan to residents, where concerns were voiced about crime, gambling addiction, and dollars being diverted away from local restaurants and businesses.
Those types of concerns were also voiced in Rochester, but they did not come to pass, and Granite State Gaming has a good relationship with the police and complements the City of Rochester's business zone, which operators said continues to grow and develop.
The Littleton operation will have 150 to 200 machines, a full-size table with about 12 table games, and will provide 60 to 80 full-time jobs, from security to cashiers and restaurant servers, to jobs in finance, marketing, cleaning, and more.
NEW OCCUPANT FOR THE FORMER UPPER VALLEY PRESS BUILDING
In other business news, I was told that a kitchen cabinet maker from Sherbrooke, Canada, will be coming to the North Country. They will be looking at the former Upper Valley Press building on Route 116 in North Haverhill to include it on its long list of custom cabinetry establishments operating throughout the United States, with more than 200 locations.
The building had been dedicated to printing local and regional newspapers on its huge multicolor web presses. The business remained there for many years after leaving its location in Bradford, Vermont.
Over the last 10 years, with the decline of many weekly newspapers, the Upper Valley Press business has gradually decreased to meet reduced demand. Two years ago, the plant was closed, and some of the presses were moved to Maine to consolidate the diminishing printing business.
WOODSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL CRASH PROGRAM WAS OUTSTANDING
The 2026 Woodsville High School Mock CRASH program was outstanding. It consisted of three days of intense play-acting with all the realism that students, faculty, and first responders could muster.
It was truly realistic, which is what each participant worked hard to achieve. It was masterfully managed by two ladies at WHS, School Counselor Rosie Farr and Shauna Kimball. Right from the first meeting I attended about three weeks before the event, I knew the event planning was in high gear for an authentically produced three-day program that entailed a fatal motor vehicle crash, a funeral program the next day, and on day three, a court trial. I was in the mix to photograph it from opening to closing, and it went well despite all the moving parts the Farr-Kimball team had to keep a close eye on for realism, sincere acting, and authentic parts throughout the entire production.
It was an honor for me to be involved, and my media hat is tipped to the Farr and Kimball duo for a great job. I have been doing these CRASH scenes since the very first one was held at Butson's parking lot, produced by the WHS SADD chapter, as I recall, in about 1983 or so. The most recent CRASH program was the smoothest and most realistic of them all!!