A special legislative session was convened last week to formulate a plan to reduce property taxes in Nebraska and some legislators put forth their solutions in the form of online sports betting proposals. However, a powerful voice in former Nebraska Cornhuskers football coach, Tom Osborne is against it and he didn’t mince words about his opposition.
Let’s take a closer look at his arguments and how his position might impact top-rated sportsbooks.
Tom Testifies
The Nebraska Legislature’s General Affairs Committee met last week during a special session that was convened to discuss daily fantasy sports and mobile betting legislation. The legislature is attempting to come up with solutions to reduce the onerous property taxes in Nebraska.
Some of the possible solutions put forth involve legalizing, regulating, and taxing revenues on those industries with the proceeds directed to a fund that would assist in lowering those property taxes. Mobile sports betting has become commonplace in most states but there are a few, like Nebraska, that have not acquiesced to developing this new revenue stream.
Although studies show many Americans are in favor of online sports betting, there are still those who oppose it and one of those people is former Buckeye’s football coach, Tom Osborne, a man who brought three national championships to the school in 1994, 1995, and 1997. Osborne also served as a U.S. congressman for Nebraska’s 3rd District from 2001-2007 before stepping down.
Beyond the Scoreboard
Osborne testified in front of the committee during the special legislative session and said, “Having been involved in athletics for most of my life, I can attest to the fact that the most intense criticism and negative circumstances that coaches and athletes have is often not just due to losing on the scoreboard, it often results from not beating the point spread, not meeting such metrics such as number of turnovers, yards lost, yards gained, points scored, etc.”
The legendary football coach also spoke about the financial stressors on those who may find the easy access to mobile sports betting to be too tempting to resist.
“And when you can pick up your phone, or get on a computer and bet as much as you want, as quickly as you want, I can guarantee you that there will be increased addiction and increased costs,” Osborne added.
“You have a lot on your shoulders, and you don’t need to have gambling problems exacerbate that problem,” Osborne testified. “The athletic contest becomes less of a sporting event and more of a gambling exercise, with a gambler’s financial security at risk.”
Nebraska Governor Approves
Not everyone agrees with Tom Osborne, including Nebraska State Senator Carol Blood, who sponsored L.B.-28, a bill that would legalize, regulate, and tax online sports betting operators and whose tax revenues would help reduce property taxes in Nebraska.
“You can’t keep controlling morality. We’re very willing to do ‘sin taxes’ when we don’t agree that people should drink or smoke,” Blood said. “Here’s an opportunity for us to be forward-thinking and to relieve the property tax burden, how great is that?”
College Game Changer
State Senator Eliot Bostar sponsored a similar bill in L.B.-13 that would not only bring mobile sports betting to Nebraska but would also allow betting on Nebraska’s in-state college games, something that is prohibited at the state’s land-based sportsbooks. Bostar’s bill would not, however, lift the ban on college player props or live betting on college games.
“I have every confidence that this is going to be on the ballot soon, and the people of Nebraska are going to have an opportunity to have their voice heard,” Bostar said before the hearing.
Even one of Tom Osborne’s former players, incumbent Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen, was at odds with his former coach on the topic, stating, “I’m an advocate (of mobile sports betting). I won’t stand in the way. Anybody who takes that, I’ll support it.”
The committee did not act on any of the sports betting measures it discussed last week.
