A sports betting bill allowing Nebraska residents to vote to legalize sports betting in the state has advanced from a Nebraska Legislative Committee with a six-two vote.
Legislative Resolution 20CA, introduced by Senator Eliot Bostar, would authorize online sports betting at licensed racetracks and require Nebraskans to be in the state when placing a bet. Potential revenue would go towards property tax relief.
Bostar alleges that mobile sports betting would bring in an estimated $32 million in annual tax revenue for the Cornhusker State after disclosing that the state was losing out on potential revenue as Nebraskans were already going to neighboring states, such as Iowa, to place online bets.
“If Nebraskans weren’t already participating in mobile sports betting, especially to the extent that they are, I wouldn’t have brought this,” Bostar said. “But the realities are that the folks who want to do this are already doing it.”
Yet, the bill is already facing opposition, with the main argument brought up by the bill’s opponents being that the legalization of sports betting would negatively impact Nebraskan families.
The executive director of the grass-roots organization Gambling with the Good Life, Pat Loontjer, is also opposed to the bill. The organization has been fighting gambling in the state for the past 30 years, including the three gambling-related bills passed in 2020.
“It’s been five years, and I don’t know how many of you have had your property taxes reduced, but no one that I’ve ever met,” Loontjer told reporters two weeks ago. “It’s a lie.”