Nebraska will not be introducing online sports betting anytime soon.
Lawmakers’ push to put the question of legal sports wagering expansion to the Nebraskan public came up short, as a special legislative session ended on Tuesday, with no date set for a potential resumption. It leaves proposed online sports betting legislation dead in the water.
The special session was called by Gov. Jim Pillen with the goal of addressing property tax relief and lasted 17 days.
During the session, Sen. Elliot Bostar and other advocates proposed an amendment that would pave the way to introduce online sports betting in the Cornhusker State. Bostar’s legislation, LR3CA, would have amended the Nebraska Racetrack Gaming Act to allow casinos to offer digital sports wagering if the issue gained legislative and public approval.
Bostar’s bill package had earmarked up to 90% of betting revenue for property tax relief. As well as the financial windfall, Bostar’s main argument was that Nebraskans are already betting both within and outside the state, all without regulatory oversight.
Bostar’s constitutional amendment progressed out of committee last week, albeit with a mitigation that it would only give the state legislature the option to introduce sports betting if the public voted yes, rather than a mandate.
The package still faced an uphill battle and likely would have had little impact on property tax relief.
Nebraska senators voiced stern opposition, could resurface in 2025
However, lawmakers were unconvinced. Despite part of Bostar’s package being approved in committee, it was never actually discussed on the Senate floor.
It also faced some vociferous opposition even after advancing out of committee.
A group of 13 senators released an official statement earlier this week condemning the attempts to legalize online sports betting, calling it “a poison pill” and arguing that it would not create significant property tax relief and would worsen addiction issues.
It had also met with dissent from the likes of Nebraska football coaching legend Tom Osborne.
Online sports betting proponents in Nebraska will have to start over, as bills do not carry over into new legislative years in the state. Nebraska’s next legislative session will run from January to May 2025. The issue seems likely to resurface next year, as Pillen has voiced support for potentially legalizing online sports betting in the past.
With the 2024 Nebraska push stalled, there seems little to no chance that there will be any further online sports betting or online casino expansion this year. If that’s the case, 2024 will be the first year since the repeal of PASPA in 2018 in which no state has passed legislation to allow some kind of sports wagering.
