Nebraska Government Continues To Discuss Legal Sports Betting
Legalization Continues To Gain Steam
While legal sports betting is still far from a reality in Nebraska, the Nebraska online sports betting discussion continued this week as the Nebraska General Affairs Committee — the state legislature committee that handles topics from liquor laws to libraries to gambling — met to discuss the possibility of legalizing sports betting going on the ballot this November.
There has been a lot of momentum toward legalization, but any concrete steps would have to wait until after the election.
- Governor Jim Pillen is still deciding whether or not to put online sports betting on the ballot.
State officials even introduced an online sports betting bill during a special session earlier this year, showing just how much enthusiasm there is even at the higher levels of state government and increasing political will to make something happen legislatively.
Recently, there has been a push to legalize betting to use the revenue to reduce state property taxes.
- Of course, betting revenue in a relatively small state like Nebraska without its professional sports teams would likely never make a massive dent in the overall property tax bucket.
But, as one stream of revenue which the state can look toward when seeking to lower residents’ tax burdens, it seems like a no-brainer. There are many steps that need to be taken before that hope becomes a reality, however.
Process Continues In State Legislature And Ballot Box
First, State Senator Eliot Bostar introduced Legislative Bill 13 to the state legislature — note that Nebraska is a unicameral legislature, so there is just one body made up of senators for the Nebraska online sports betting discussion.
There is no separate state senate, state general assembly, or state house. Bostar introduced LB 13 on July 25th, and if passed, it would legalize online sports betting in the state and set aside 90% of betting revenue received for the Property Tax Credit fund.
Legislative Resolution 3CA, also introduced by Bostar on July 25th, accompanies LB 13 is the resolution that, if passed, would get the bill on the ballot for voting by the public.
Currently, there are in-person sportsbooks live in Nebraska that are taxed at 20 percent, with 70 percent of tax revenue going to the property tax relief fund.
Bostar, in his support of the bill and resolution, noted that illegal betting outlets and legal operations in neighboring states — like Iowa — have benefited from Nebraska having yet to legalize.
The thinking is that there is a significant demand already among state residents for legalization so, by not keeping those bettors within the state (and either pushing to use untaxed illegal methods or simply leave the state), Nebraska is essentially closing itself off to large amounts of revenue that it could otherwise easily capture.
Nebraska Legislators Mull Online Sports Betting Bill in Committee Hearinghttps://t.co/F9Oo7vZUVU pic.twitter.com/0TJiMVAfoi
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State Residents Are In Favor Of Legalization
As Bostar stated, by not having legal online sports betting in the state, Nebraska is simultaneously absorbing all the social costs of betting — addiction, loss of money, related dangerous behaviors — without getting to retain the benefits.
This idea is further cemented when looking at the huge sums of state residents who were blocked by placing wagers online while in the state.
- GeoComply, a company specializing in geolocation and compliance, determined that, from June 2023 to July 2024, more than 4.5 million of such attempted wagers were tracked.
From January 1, 2024 to July 1, 2024, there were more than 2 million geolocation checks from devices/phones in Nebraska that tried to set on sportsbooks in other states. The company reports that there are roughly 64,000 active sportsbook accounts on devices/phones in Nebraska despite online sports betting not being legal in the state.
Further, during last football season, data shows that over 18,000 Nebraska residents crossed state lines to bet on sports online in Iowa.
Now, while not all of these numbers prove that online sports betting will be a hugely successful endeavor in Nebraska because you never know how betting patterns will change after legalization.
- But, they certainly show that there is a lot of interest in online sports betting in the state and the data definitely helps push along the Nebraska online sports betting discussion.
There are many, many Nebraska who have tried and failed to bet online legally even before legalization so one could only imagine just how much money the state could stand to earn once it actually is legal. And, with the property tax proposal, state residents can stand to gain in a big way.
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