KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Nebraska voters rejected Initiatives 440 and 441, so legal sports betting stays limited to in-person wagers at racetrack casinos.
- DraftKings and FanDuel paid for nearly all of a campaign that sold mobile wagering as a way to cut property taxes.
- Gaming consultant said supporters likely face a four- to six-year wait before another ballot attempt.
Voters definitively said no to Nebraska online sports betting at the ballot on Tuesday, in what some in the industry suggest is a warning sign to future U.S. gambling expansion.
FanDuel and DraftKings poured in more than $20m of the $22.5m spent on the race by gaming operators, which saw:
- Initiative 440, the constitutional amendment, fall 55% to 45%
- Initiative 441, the statutory framework, lose 54.5% to 45.5%
Those numbers are according to unofficial returns Wednesday morning. Both measures needed to pass for Nebraska online sports betting to launch.
Nebraska joined a night of gaming defeats
Nebraska was not the only gaming loss Tuesday:
- Voters in Allen, DeKalb and Steuben counties in Indiana rejected a proposed casino with 64.6% of the vote.
- A horse racing measure also failed in Virginia.
“They were all opposed,” said Josh Kirschner, partner and deputy leader of Holland & Knight’s gaming practice. He called the results bad news for an industry testing whether voters support more gambling.
“I don’t think there is an appetite,” Kirschner said. “It was a true pushback against expansion of mobile gaming.”
Where Nebraska sports betting proponents missed
Brendan Bussmann, managing partner of advisory firm B Global, said the spending hid basic strategic mistakes.
“Where did they get it right other than signature gathering?” Bussmann said. “You never tested the negatives, you ran with an argument with a non-believable number, and you took poor advice from the locals that didn’t know how to run a ballot initiative on this topic.”
Another gaming industry source called the results a “total repudiation” of gambling expansion.
The defeat keeps Nebraska’s market limited to retail sportsbooks at licensed racetrack casinos. It also blocks the route operators chose after the Legislature refused to act.
Voters rejected the main pitch from Tax Relief Nebraska, the gaming industry PAC that promised more than $166m in property tax relief over 10 years. Many of those voters are still waiting on the relief promised with the state’s 2020 casino vote, Bussman said.
Nebraska casino revenue still trails 2020 promises
The fight goes back to 2020, when Nebraska voters approved casino gambling at the state’s racetracks. State law taxes gaming revenue at 20% and sends 70% of that money to property tax relief credits.
Casino revenue has not yet matched its promises. The Legislature expected casinos to produce about $34m for property tax relief in fiscal 2022-23. They produced $8m, and that figure grew only to $14m the next fiscal year.
“If you go back to 2020, that said we’re going to generate over $400 million,” Bussmann said. “The numbers don’t lie with what you’ve done versus numbers you throw out there.”
Flawed promise for Nebraska voters
Tax Relief Nebraska raised nearly $22.5m through Oct. 29. DK Crown Holdings and FanDuel each gave $10.4m. BetMGM and Fanatics also contributed.
“I don’t know how you spend $23 million in Nebraska on a ballot initiative and lose,” Bussmann said. “The only way you can spend that much in Nebraska is buying out a football coach.”
He took particular aim at the $166m figure and said, “That is not a believable number.”
Opponents pressed the same point. State Sen. Mike Jacobson estimated that online betting would bring in roughly $17m a year. That is about three-tenths of 1% of the $5.6bn Nebraskans paid in property taxes in 2025.
“It was a flawed argument to think that’s all it took,” Bussmann said of using property tax relief as the hook.
Following the loss Tuesday night, proponents lamented the results and the failure to legalize an activity already happening in Nebraska.
“I’m disappointed for the state of Nebraska,” Lynne McNally, director of government relations for WarHorse Casino, said Tuesday night, per Nebraska Public Media. “Online betting is happening right now, all over the state. Nebraska is just losing out on tax revenue … that’s a real loss for the state of Nebraska.
“It really is regrettable that we are not able to regulate and tax this activity because it should be subject to tax. There needs to be reasonable regulations on these activities, addressing problem gambling. Without these measures, that’s not going to happen. It’s gonna continue to be the Wild West out there.”
Lawmakers stalled Nebraska online sports betting
Operators tried the legislative route first. Sen. Eliot Bostar introduced a proposal in January 2025 that would have sent Nebraska online sports betting to the 2026 ballot through partnerships with racetrack casinos. Bostar pulled it during a filibuster led by Sen. Brad von Gillern.
That came following a late session push in 2024 led by Bostar with support from Gov. Jim Pillen, who hoped to find property tax relief solutions.
Tax Relief Nebraska launched in September 2025 to go around the Legislature. The Nebraska online sports betting plan would have allowed as many as 12 mobile platforms tied to licensed racetrack casinos, at the same 20% tax rate casinos pay.
Likely long wait for another sports betting attempt
Bussmann said proponents of Nebraska online sports betting should not rush back to voters.
“You’re going to start running into voter fatigue if you’re taking it to the ballot, probably four to six years,” he said. “I’d rather run in a presidential election than a non-presidential, especially in a year when it’s ‘no’ to everything, and that’s what we’re seeing in the results across the country.”
He sees a possible path through the legislature, but it will likely take some creativity.
“Is there a pathway? I think there is,” Bussmann said. “But it’s a very difficult one that no one has wanted to deal with.”
