Nebraska in Line for Online Sports Betting Approval

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00:00Dare I say, Nebraska did not have this on the radar, reading about this illegal sports report.

00:07Pat, sort of out of nowhere, the Cornhusker State could be the next state on deck to get this done?

00:14It's a possibility. First, I want to say I'm a little upset at Frankie for not bringing me on

00:18so I could say hi to Mike. You know, I haven't been with him in a while since, you know, he's

00:22hosted for you, so I would have liked to say hi. And I also would have liked to hear him talk about

00:26Michigan State, but you know what? You interrupted him and talked about Aaron Rodgers and that's fine.

00:32Yeah, Nebraska's up next. It does have in-person sports betting at sportsbooks at Racinos, which

00:38are racetracks that have been turned into casinos after voters in Nebraska voted to legalize casino

00:45style gaming in 2020. And so those have opened up, you know, so there's a little bit, but there is no

00:52online sports betting. And last fall, there was a special session that Governor Jim Pillen called

00:57to help increase property tax relief funds for Nebraska residents. And in that, there was a

01:07sports betting bill to take it online and send, I think it was about 90 percent of the revenue

01:13generated, tax revenue generated from online sports betting to a property tax relief fund.

01:19It did not pass, you know, it was a very short session. And because it is one of those states

01:24that is pretty, you know, gambling can be a tricky issue in some of these states, and it is in

01:30Nebraska. But still, Pillen said he supported the idea, said he'll support a priority bill coming

01:36into the 2025 session. And so here we are in 2025. There's a bill that was discussed in committee

01:43yesterday, or Monday. And yeah, there was no action taken yet. It's a unicameral legislature,

01:51so it does just need to pass one chamber. So it's still got a lot of time to go. And it's an

01:57interesting kind of dichotomy here. There was one bill from Elliott Bostar who, it would be a

02:02constitutional amendment, so it would have to go back to the voters, even though they approved

02:07casino style gambling in 2020, to take it online. Then there was an enacting framework that gives

02:13each of the six casinos in the state the ability to partner with a sportsbook operator.

02:19And so there it's that. And then there's also another bill that was introduced that is also

02:23in consideration that would just kind of bypass the constitutional amendment because the voters

02:28in 2020 said it's okay. And that senator said she got approval that the council says it's

02:34okay to just kind of bypass that. So we'll see what happens when this committee comes

02:38back together. And if they say yes, let's go ahead and recommend it and pass it on.

02:43So yeah, this is certainly in play. It is a state that already has sports betting,

02:48at least in person. So it's not necessarily a fully new state, but an online state nonetheless

02:53that could go online potentially next year if they get it on the ballot this November.