Commercial operators filed a petition for a digital sports betting initiative in Nebraska on Friday, multiple sources confirmed in game. The wording of the initiative has not been made public, but sources said operators would be required to tie up horse racing facilities and the tax rate would be set at 20%. Additionally, a portion of the tax revenue would be earmarked for property tax relief.
After voters approved an initiative in November 2020 to allow retail sports betting, Nebraska will have in-person betting starting in June 2023.
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As of Monday morning, no such initiative appeared on the secretary of state’s “Currently Circulating Petitions” webpage, and the state did not publicly list initiatives that had been submitted but not yet approved.
The proposal has the support of the sports betting coalition as well as existing casino and rider groups in the state.
“There is clear interest in digital sports betting in Nebraska and the polls are very high,” said Lynne McNally, director of government relations at WarHorse Casino and CEO of Nebraska Horsemen. in game. “If we can increase property tax relief, we’re willing to do that. … We’d love to get this done and give people the opportunity to bet like people in over 30 other jurisdictions.”
Seven states have proactively approved some kind of sports betting, including Arkansas (2018), Colorado (2019), Louisiana (2020), Maryland (2020) and Missouri (2024), where voters approved mobile betting statewide. Nebraskans passed an initiative to legalize games of chance in 2020, and the state Legislature ultimately determined that live betting met the definition, but digital betting did not.
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Proactive legalization has always been a challenge for commercial operators. An attempt in California failed miserably in 2022, and the operator withdrew an attempt in Florida that same year. In Colorado and Missouri, proposals — not all implemented by carriers — narrowly passed.
How to get the upper hand in voting
In Nebraska, supporters of the initiative must collect the qualifying signatures of 7 percent of registered voters, and supporters of the constitutional amendment must collect the qualifying signatures of 10 percent of registered voters. In addition, qualifying signatures from 5 percent of registered voters in 39 of the state’s 93 counties are required. As of January 1, 1,254,120 voters were registered in the state, according to the SOS website.
In other states, initiative work begins earlier. Sponsors of the 2020 Nebraska Initiative are already collecting signatures ahead of the 2019 football season. The effort was disrupted by winter weather and COVID-19 shutdowns, but McNally said despite disruptions in signature collection between November and March, sponsors collected more than 750,000 signatures for the three initiatives. At the time, due to coronavirus concerns, sponsors ordered 100,000 plain white pens to give everyone their own, sterilized pen.
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“Maybe we were overly optimistic, but we succeeded under more difficult circumstances,” she said.
After an initiative application is submitted, the state has 10 days to recommend modifications or approval. From that point, the timeline could be extended depending on how quickly sponsors accept or reject the changes and how quickly the state approves the language. One source said the process would be accelerated.
The initiative’s sponsors will collect signatures four months before the election, scheduled for November 3, which means signatures will be due in early July. The state then has up to 50 days to verify the signatures and initiate a vote.
Nine initiatives have been approved on the midterm election ballot, according to the Secretary of State’s website.
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Legislature considering the issue?
Nebraska lawmakers considered expanding sports betting into the digital realm in 2025, but a package of bills that would also have ultimately conveyed the decision to voters was defeated by a filibuster in April. Eliot Bostar, the bill’s sponsor, withdrew his constitutional amendment after 3 1/2 hours of filibustering, possibly because he did not have the vote.
Bosta’s constitutional amendment was the only bill in the three-bill package to reach the Senate. All bills will be carried over to the 2026 session, which opens on January 7.
Sports betting has been a contentious issue in the Legislature. After voters passed a motion to allow games of chance, the Legislature held months of discussion and debate before crafting a framework that included a ban on betting when hometown teams, such as Nebraska or Creighton, play home games. In the current situation, that means those in Nebraska who want to bet on the Nebraska basketball team, which is now 16-0 after beating Indiana and Penn State last week, must cross the border to a state where betting is legal to do so when the team is at home.
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Nebraska is the only legal betting state with teams in “Power 4” conferences with such restrictions.
The digital gambling bill package would allow online sports betting across the state through digital platforms connected to racetracks. The plan limits the number of platforms to six.
