First, a bid to legalize online sports betting in Nebraska bogged down. Then it withered under strong opposition.
The end of a special session meant to foster property tax relief solutions is the latest setback.
A few days before, a bloc of 13 Nebraska senators issued a statement opposing the expansion of sports betting beyond a few retail locations after the state General Affairs committee approved a mutated version of a resolution that would have allowed state voters to decide the issue. The senators voiced their dissent after Legislative Resolution 3CA was approved, which would have allowed the public to vote in November on whether the unicameral legislature could legalize mobile sports betting.
The senators contend that the legalization of casino gambling hasn’t delivered on its promise to mitigate the property tax issue and added that increased addiction problems would be a main by-product.
The statement by Senators Ray Aguilar, Joni Albrecht, Robert Clements, Robert Dover, Steve Erdman, Steve Halloran, Brian Hardin, Rick Holdcroft, Loren Lippincott, John Lowe, Rita Sanders, and Julie Slama:
“Nebraska very recently legalized casinos largely on the promise of property tax relief that has failed to manifest itself. Expanding gambling further will inevitably lead to expanding the associated addictions and adds to more suffering in our communities. Online sports betting turns every cell phone into a 24/7 handheld gambling device, leading to new addictions.”
The statement went on to call an expansion of sports betting in Nebraska to online a “poison pill.”
Gov. Jim Pillen, who claims to not be a gambling proponent, supported the expansion of sports betting as a means of offsetting the property tax crisis.
Nebraska Sports Betting History Contentious
Sen. Eliot Bostar originally proposed 3CA as a vehicle to generate upwards of $32 million in the first two-plus years of a mobile sports betting economy, citing the $44 million neighboring Iowa had collected in tax revenue since launching its online market in 2019.
Nebraska sports betting via retail generated about $2 million in taxes for the state last year. Seventy percent of that is directed to property tax mitigation.
An initial July hearing on Bostar’s bid immediately featured sizeable resistance, notably from former Nebraska Cornhuskers football coach and US Rep. Tom Osborne, a longtime anti-gambling zealot.
Bostar’s proposal emerged from committee with a 5-2 vote when Sen. John Cavanaugh tweaked its language to give voters the right to approval a possible expansion, not explicitly legalize it.
The proposal faced a tough road in gaining a fourth-fifths majority approval in the legislature and ultimately died when the special session ended on Tuesday. The legislature could revisit the idea in January and with three-fifths approval put the measure on the November 2026 ballot as a referendum. Nebraska law allows state-wide referendums only in even-numbered years.
Bostar’s other sports betting proposal — LB13 — which would have allowed the legislature to approve sports betting, also failed.
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