New Hampshire residents helped Connecticut raise about $11 million for its treasury in 2006, according to estimates in a study by the New England Gaming Research Project at the University of Massachusetts "" Dartmouth. The study found the taxes came on roughly $85 million in New Hampshire money that was spent at Connecticut casinos.

The Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos have a combined 13,200 slot machines and 685 gaming tables, plus extensive hotel and performance space.

Study author Clyde M. Barrows said the per-machine net income from slot machines at the two Connecticut casinos are "astronomical" -- $326 per day at Foxwoods and $416 per day at Mohegan Sun.

Interesting, when compared with what Millenium Group estimates that machines at a Rockingham Park racino would produce. They figure $403 million in annual gaming revenues, which averages out to almost $365 per machine per day.

"That 's pretty aggressive, especially for a racino. I 'd want to see them defend that," Barrows said. He noted that Maine could decide to add a slots facility near New Hampshire, and that gambling at Suffolk Downs race track and an Indian casino in Middleborough, Mass., are live issues, all of which will affect gambling numbers here.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to announce this week whether he 'll oppose making slots legal. Patrick faces steep budget challenges, and the cost of repairing roads and bridges in the commonwealth is a bigger headache than the migraine New Hampshire is suffering. There is even talk of a toll booth on I-93 in Methuen, Mass.

An analyst for Millenium told a gambling study committee that it would be important for New Hampshire to move quickly and establish a loyal gambling clientele before the Massachusetts proposals get off the ground.

Millenium Group has guessed high on slot revenues before. It 's estimate for a proposed racino in western Pennsylvania was high enough that the state gaming board said it put its license application in jeopardy. Millenium got the license, which cost $50 million.

Millenium has proposed paying $5 million for a five-year license at Rockingham.

Rep. Christine Hamm, chair of the study committee, said the proposed license fee, "is a proposal given to us by the company. That doesn 't mean the state would accept those numbers, or any others."

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PREDATORY LENDING: The House is rolling up its sleeves to take a closer look at what kind of controls to put on short-term loans to low-income borrowers, better known as predatory lending.

A subcommittee headed by Rep. Steve DeStefano split itself into two halves last week to consider pay day loans and car title loans separately.

DeStefano is determined to get a bill out of the process. He told a room filled almost entirely with lobbyists. "I want to get after this - I don 't want this to just go away," he said. The trick will be to continue access to some kind of credit for low-income, high-risk borrowers while getting control of companies that charge 300 percent annual interest on loans of $500 or less.

Rep. David Smith, a former banker, has sponsored the bill that 's getting the most interest. He wants to cap interest rates at 36 percent, the same cap in place for armed services members.

DeStefano said the risk is that the lender will leave the state if the rate cap is too low, and the state 's banks won 't fill the gap. That will leave a low-income family with an expensive car repair nowhere to go.

Smith said something is wrong when the industry concentrates its shops along the borders with Massachusetts and Maine.

Sarah Mattson of New Hampshire Legal Assistance said she thinks the explanation is that we 're the only state in New England with no interest rate cap.

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FILLING THE BENCH: Gov. John Lynch will soon have three vacancies to fill on the Superior Court bench.

The Judicial Selection Commission has done its interviews and forwarded a list of suggested names to Lynch, but he hasn 't made any decisions yet.

The state Web site carried an advisory to potential candidates this spring that if they were interested in an appointment this year, it was time to apply.

There 's an executive council meeting this week, but if a nomination or two is in the wings, Lynch 's office is keeping it close to the vest.

"He is still talking to candidates and taking time to meet with them personally because he wants to make sure he finds the best qualified candidate," Lynch spokesman Colin Manning said.

Superior Court Chief Justice Robert Lynn said, "I hope they 're going to be coming very soon - I 've got my fingers crossed." Courts are backing up and cases are being delayed, Lynn said. A study of the courts found that with its caseload, the Superior Court system would ideally have 25 judges. The courts will have 19 on Oct. 1.

Lynn asked retired judges to sit on some cases, and had Supreme Court Associate Justice Gary Hicks help out for a day or two earlier this year. He 's had one true vacancy since June with Justice Arthur Brennan retired, and another in effect opening since Sept. 1, when Justice Bernard Hampsey left on leave time pending his Oct. 10 retirement. Judge David Sullivan is retiring Oct. 1, he said.

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BANK BIDS: The state will make a little extra money after using an online auction method for the first time to place $40 million in cash last week.

State Treasurer Cathy Provencher said the state will earn an average of a quarter percent more on six-month CDs than U.S. Treasury bills pay.

Sixteen New Hampshire banks bid on the deposits during the half-hour auction.

"The benefit is everyone gets to play, from the smallest to the biggest bank in state," she said. "The other big benefit is the transparency of the whole process. All the banks can see who the winners are and what the winners bid." The funds in the first-time auction are from a revolving loan account for drinking water projects.

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MICHAEL 'S LAW EXPANDS: The line-of-duty death benefit in the new Michael 's Law that passed this year will be extended to cover state corrections officers.

The bill calls for $100,000 to be paid to the family of any law enforcement officer or firefighter killed in the line of duty. The State Employees Association pressed to include corrections workers under the benefit. A committee dealing with details of the bill decided this week that corrections workers are law enforcement officers.

The bill is named for Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs, who was shot to death while responding to a domestic violence call last October.

The man facing the death penalty in that case, Michael Addison, is being held at New Hampshire State Prison guarded by corrections officers, Corrections Commissioner William Wrenn pointed out last week.

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CLINTON CAMPAIGN: If you haven 't heard the knock on the door yet, it 's probably coming. The "Fall for Hillary" campaign kicked off this weekend, with hundreds of Hillary Clinton volunteer making phone calls and knocking on doors looking for supporters from Berlin to Keene. The campaign plans 60 events around the state as part of its fifth canvassing weekend.

Clinton speaks tomorrow in Iowa, where she 'll lay out her health care reform plan. The last time she devised a health care plan was in the early years of then-President Bill Clinton 's administration. The universal health care proposal went over like a lead zeppelin -- and we 're not talking rock music here.

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LEAD POISONING TARGETED: Manchester state Sen. Betsi DeVries will chair a new commission on childhood lead poisoning prevention. The commission was set up as part of a new law that set lower, tougher standards for lead levels in children.

Lead can cause permanent brain and organ damage, and can be inhaled as dust when lead-painted windows are opened and closed.

DeVries called passage of the bill she sponsored as "a major step toward protecting children," but she added, "As we learn from recent media accounts of lead paint discovered on children 's toys, it is clear the fight isn 't over."

Tom Fahey is the State House bureau chief for the New Hampshire Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News.