The sponsor of a 2026 referendum on mobile sports betting has withdrawn the measure after realizing it would not pass in the state’s unicameral chamber.
Just Say No
Senator Eliot Bostar’s constitutional amendment, LR 20CA, made surprising headway this session and ultimately landed on the Senate floor. The bill would have allowed the voters to decide if they wanted mobile sports betting in the Cornhusker State, but Wednesday’s hearing made it clear the votes were not there to get it across the finish line.
It became clear early on during Wednesday’s hearing that the opposition was too entrenched, with opponents employing a filibuster that immediately triggered a raise in the minimum number of yes votes for passage from 30 to 33 of 49 senators.
Supporters claimed that mobile sports betting would generate $32 million for the state at a tax rate of 20% on an estimated $1.6 billion yearly handle. Lynne McNally, government relations director for the WarHorse Casino, stated, “Online sports betting would be a viable way to reduce the property tax burden since it would bring approximately $30 to $32 million per year in additional tax revenue for the state. We had the first bricks-and-mortar sportsbook in the state of Nebraska. We’re doing well and are very pleased with it. However, online betting dwarfs retail in every single state they have it.”
Nebraska is one of the few states that allow retail sportsbooks but not the far more lucrative mobile sports betting. Senator Bostar’s bill would have allowed the people to decide if digital sports betting was in their future, and not the legislators, but now that must wait until next year.
Protecting the Flock
Politicians have differing opinions regarding their duty to protect their constituents from themselves. While some take a laissez-faire approach, allowing grown adults to make their own decisions, others believe the government should intervene and make those decisions for them.
The latter proved to be the case on Wednesday, and the primary objection cited was that mobile sports betting could act as a conduit to addictive gambling behavior. Senator Robert Dover went so far as to state that it would increase suicides in the state, despite no statistical evidence of that in any of the states that allow online sports betting.
Senator Brian Hardin stated, “Legalizing online sports gambling would open the floodgates, allowing anyone with a smartphone from Scottsbluff to Omaha to place bets 24/7. What once required a trip to a casino will now live in every pocket, every living room, and possibly even every high school locker room. In rural areas where economic hardship is already too common, we could be placing a dangerous temptation just one click away.”
Bostar had argued that “Nebraska is currently missing out on a $1.6 billion state online industry and $32 million in annual tax revenue, which instead goes to neighboring states like Iowa, Colorado, and Kansas.”
The possibility of the mobile sportsbooks circumventing the legislature and bringing a petition to the people to get the question on the ballot is still a possibility. It worked in Missouri, and it may also work in Nebraska.
