Chasers Poker Room Expansion Plan Effectively Blocked by New Hampshire Supreme Court Ruling

CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE, USA (Poker Uncensored) -- Plans to expand the Chasers Poker Room in Salem, New Hampshire by putting charitable gaming operations in a former K-Mart location at 167 South Broadway could be in jeopardy following a ruling by the New Hampshire Supreme Court. The expansion plan would add hundreds of gaming positions, including electronic gaming machines and tables. This summer, however, the matter came before the Supreme Court of the State of New Hampshire in the Case Kymalimi, LLC & a. v. Town of Salem after the owner of the property at 167 South Broadway appealed a decision from the New Hampshire Superior Court. Kymalimi, LLC is the legal entity that owned the Chasers Poker Room prior to its sale to Churchill Downs, Inc., a publicly traded company that trades under the ticket CHDN on the NASDAQ.
 
Town of Salem regulations require that for a site plan to be reviewed and approved, there must be a letter of permission from the owner of the property. The property at 167 South Broadway is owned by DSM MB I, LLC (DSM) and was leased long-term to Transform Lease Opco, LLC (Transform). The lease grants Transform the right exclusive control over the structure and the right to assign the lease subject to the condition that the building “shall not be used for any unlawful purpose.”  The site plan that was submitted to the Town of Salem Planning Board had the approval of Transform, but not the approval of DSM. DSM objected to the plan, believing that the addition of charitable gaming to the site at 167 South Broadway would “result in detrimental parking, traffic, public safety, and other impacts to the shopping center.”
 
In April 2021, the Town of Salem Planning Board had accepted the site plan as complete, before reversing course and not accepting the application due to the lack of written approval from DSM. That led to Kymalimi and Transform initiating legal action against the Town of Salem. In March 2022, the trial court ruled that the Planning Board was wrong, as the Board did not properly interpret the terms “owner” and “owner of record.” The argument by Kymalimi and Transform was that Transform should be considered an “owner of record” because “its leasehold estate is a matter of record, with a Memorandum of Lease having been recorded in the Rockingham County Registry of Deeds,” and therefore Transform can provide approval for a site plan without DSM being required to give approval.
 
DSM appealed the trial court’s decision to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, arguing that “The trial court erred when it determined that a tenant of a building within the parcel of land at issue was an ‘owner’ entitled to give permission for planning board site plan review and redevelopment over the fee
simple owner’s objection.” The Supreme Court agreed with DSM, and concluded that the trial court made a mistake in finding that Transform’s permission satisfied the requirements of the Town of Salem for a site plan to be reviewed and approved, and reversed the trial court’s decision.
 
As a result of the Supreme Court ruling, the site plan to expand the Chasers Poker Room to 167 South Broadway is no longer considered approved, and the project may not be able to move forward. The complete Supreme Court ruling in Case No. 2022-0202, Kymalimi, LLC & a. v. Town of Salem, can be read here.

--Matt Soleyn, Senior News Editor, Poker Uncensored