Nebraska lawmakers discussed multiple gambling bills Monday, including the effort to take sports betting online.
Sen. Eliot Bostar guided his LR 20CA in a General Affairs Committee hearing Monday. The constitutional amendment would put the expansion of Nebraska sports betting on the ballot for voters.
The committee did not take action on the bill on Monday.
Nebraskans approved casino-style gambling, including sports betting, on the ballot in 2020, and in-person sportsbooks are now available at the state’s racinos.
Nebraska sports betting opportunity
Bostar said the state is missing out on $32 million in annual tax revenue by not having online sportsbooks. He said the money instead goes to the neighboring states of Iowa, Colorado and Kansas.
Several representatives from the gambling industry spoke on the importance of a regulated industry and public support for online sports betting. The committee also heard other gambling bills, including one that would remove a prohibition on betting on Nebraska college teams when they are playing in the state.
If approved at the polls, Sen. Stan Clouse’s LB 421 would provide the framework. It would allow each of the state’s six casinos to partner with an online sportsbook operator.
There is also a bill from Sen. Ashlei Spivey, LB 438, which would legalize online sports betting without the need for a constitutional amendment.
Anti-gambling arguments
There was also a parade of opposition testimonies, greatly outnumbering the proponents, during the hearing.
Nate Grasz, the Nebraska Family Alliance’s executive director, said that if the sportsbooks want it on the ballot, they should get the signatures in a petition.
The opponents cited the moral costs of sports betting and the potential growth of problem gambling.
Property tax source
The push to take sports betting online started in earnest last year as Gov. Jim Pillen sought to find a way to provide Nebraskans with property tax relief. Pillen voiced support for passing sports betting as a priority bill.
A bill was introduced during a special session last summer. Lawmakers did not take up the constitutional amendment or accompanying framework.
A group of legislators said the sports betting portion of the property tax effort was a “poison pill.”
Sports betting tax revenue
Nebraska directs approximately 70% of gambling revenue to property tax relief.
During the last fiscal year in Nebraska, retail sportsbooks sent approximately $2 million in tax payments to the state.
Bostar’s enacting legislation last year would increase the sports betting tax revenue percentage to the property tax relief fund to 90%.
