Posted on: August 13, 2024, 08:48.
Last updated on: August 13, 2024, 08:57.
A bill to expand gambling in Nebraska, allowing online sports betting, passed committee during a special session of the House on Monday.
The unicameral General Affairs Committee passed bill LR3CA on a 5-2 vote on the 10th day of the House’s special session. The lawmakers were called back to the state capital of Lincoln by Governor Jim Pillen (R) to discuss ways to reduce property taxes.
LR3CA is a proposed referendum. In order for Nebraska’s 49 elected senators to approve online sports betting, they must first gain voter support to amend the state constitution and allow such gambling.
LR3CA plans to ask Nebraskans in the Nov. 5 presidential election whether they want to continue expanding gambling in the Cornhusker State. The gambling question would come four years after Nebraska voters approved three referendums that legalized commercial gambling at horse racing tracks and created a legal framework for on-site slot machines, table games and sports betting.
Referendum finds support
LR3CA was filed by Senator Eliot Bostar (D-Lincoln). Bostar says it’s time for Nebraska to take advantage of the tax benefits of the many Nebraskans who already bet on sports online, whether in neighboring states that offer legal, regulated internet sports betting or by betting on illegal offshore websites that cater to states where gambling is restricted.
Bostar says allowing online sports betting and increasing sportsbook gross revenue by 20 percent would bring Nebraska more than $30 million a year in additional revenue. That money, his LR3CA suggests, could go into the Property Tax Credit Cash Fund.
During committee deliberations on the referendum bill, members of the General Affairs Committee voted to retain control over whether Nebraska becomes an online sports betting state following a successful referendum. While Bostar’s original draft aimed to require lawmakers to enact regulatory conditions to allow online sports betting if the public supports the ballot question, the bill was revised to allow – not require – lawmakers to approve internet sports betting.
“The power remains in the hands of the legislature, the voters have the opportunity to comment on it, and then the legislature decides,” said the initiator of the amendment, Senator John Cavanaugh (D-Omaha).
Under Nebraska’s current gambling laws, sports bets can only be placed in person at one of the state’s traditional commercial casinos.
Long chances of winning
The expected $32 million in tax revenue from online sports betting would barely do enough to offset the $5.3 billion in property taxes the state collected from property owners last year.
Instead, lawmakers are focusing on measures during the special session that could significantly help homeowners. Pillen has suggested that lawmakers send him bills that would cut state government spending and eliminate more than 100 tax exemptions that could bring in $350 million annually for the state.
Online sports betting is expected to take a back seat, Lincoln Journal-Star Reports. Unless lawmakers decide to pass the Bostar bill and it gains a majority in the chamber, Nebraska residents will not be asked about online sports betting until at least November 2026, as the state only allows statewide referendums in even-numbered years.
