SALEM — A roulette wheel and craps table soon will be wheeled onto the game floor at Salem's Rockingham Park, alongside the rows of Texas Hold 'Em and low-stakes poker tables.

A change in the state's charity bingo law raised allowable cash bets from $2 to $4, causing game operators like the one at Rockingham Park to expand their game offerings, said Edward Callahan, Rockingham Park's general manager. That change took effect July 1.

"By doing so, it makes blackjack tables, craps and roulette viable games," Callahan said. "When the wager was $2, you would have a difficult time making payroll, to be honest. At $4, it makes it so it can pay for itself."

State regulators estimate the higher bets could translate into some $2 million in assessment fees statewide over the course of a year. They caution that figure is based on a robust economy, which is hardly the economic snapshot of today.

The change gave the state a larger cut of game proceeds. For games such as blackjack, craps and roulette, where real dollar bets are played, the state gets a 10 percent assessment of the take.

Operators of games played with chips, which have no monetary value, must pay a 3 percent assessment to the state.

Thirty-five percent of gaming revenue must go to a charity, such as a local Kiwanis club or Boys & Girls Club. And the operator takes home 55 percent of the proceeds.

The change may pay off for the state's general fund. In the first nine days of expanded betting, the state already is seeing sizable numbers.

"The economy is always in flux. It's soft for gambling right now, but looking for the first nine days of July, the state has collected $20,996 in assessment," said Paul Kelley, executive director for the state's Pari-Mutuel Commission.

Callahan estimates Rockingham Park's card and table games will generate between $600,000 to $700,000 in state assessment fees. That's in addition to the $2 million the park pays the state for harness racing. Between $1.7 million and $2 million will go to charities next year thanks to Rockingham, Callahan said

So far, Rockingham Park rents its floor space to game operator Granite State Poker for $2,000. That will likely be reassessed in the future if the new games are successful, Callahan said.

New Hampshire's charity bingo law does not specify what table games can or cannot be played. While blackjack, craps and roulette are new to Rockingham Park, other gaming venues in the state were offering them before the law change.

But the change prompted major gaming venues around New Hampshire to offer a wider variety of card and table games. And that makes some wonder if New Hampshire doesn't already have the style of casinos lawmakers have been opposing for so many years.

"You know, the interesting thing is, we're against gaming as far as the racetrack (proposals) and casinos go, yet we're letting this go on and it's grown," Rep. Peter Bergin, R-Amherst, said. "I'm glad the state is getting some revenue. The House is traditionally anti-gambling, like 80 percent or more. So you know, we've got this going on. My feeling is if we're going to let this go on, we better keep it in check. Or else people say we might as well go on with the racetrack and casino (proposals)."

Bergin sponsored a failed bill to limit what games could be played in New Hampshire. The state attorney general's office wanted the measure to pass for what they say is needed oversight for the games.

"There's a public trust at issue," Deputy Attorney General Orville "Bud" Fitch said. "Part of the problem is that if I were to go into a place as a representative of the attorney general, or someone came in from the Pari-Mutuel Commission, it isn't a case we can necessarily know that a game is being operated properly."

In states such as New Jersey and Nevada — where legalized casino gambling has been going on for decades — there are state-established rules that ensure the integrity of card and other table games. New Hampshire currently has no such rules.

And oversight of the money coming in to game operators more or less relies on an honor system, state officials say.

"You have to also understand it's an all cash business," Senior Assistant Attorney General Michael Brown said. "There's no accurate way to identify how much cash is actually coming in to these gaming facilities. It allows the operators of facilities to have extraordinary capacity to manipulate money."

Brown and Fitch stressed they have no reason to believe any game operator is taking advantage of the system. And the state is working — on some level — to maintain a system of checks and balances for charity gaming.

The state Pari-Mutuel Commission recently hired four internal auditors who are charged with reviewing all accounting of charitable gaming that's reported to its office. The commission also has inspectors who pay unannounced visits to gaming sites.

Game operators themselves are taking steps to make sure both operators and players stay honest.

"We're in the process of installing full surveillance to ensure a game full of integrity," Callahan said. "With Texas Hold 'Em poker, it's basically the players against each other. We have floor supervisors to make sure it's all on the up and up. When you have some of these (cash) games, it's a little bit more difficult to oversee. We're not going to tolerate any kind of shenanigans from customers or employees. And surveillance helps that a lot."

Kelley, the executive director of the Pari-Mutuel Commission, said game operators realize it's in their best interest to act as watchdogs for their own facilities. Kelley believes as the games grow, it will show state officials how they will need to increase and improve oversight.

"I think it behooves the primary game operators to be on top of their games," Kelley said.

Another part of the law change requires all game operators to undergo an FBI background check, he said.

The recalculation of proceeds has required game operators to reduce the prize pot. Callahan worries a smaller pot could turn off some players and make them head south, back to Connecticut casinos to play cards.

"It's basically micro-management on the part of the state, by many people who have never seen the inside of a poker room," Callahan said.

Yet Fitch said the growth of state-sanctioned poker games is already a dramatic change for New Hampshire. Walking through the state's tracks these days doesn't look too different from a casino.

"I didn't see a big difference," he said. "We visited a night when the pot was $20,000 for a poker game. That's pretty big money. It wasn't the kind of thing I saw growing up in New Hampshire."