Gov. Pillen at odds with former Huskers coach Tom Osborne on online sports betting

Zach Wendling

Nebraska Examiner

LINCOLN — Hall of Fame former Nebraska head football coach Tom Osborne said Wednesday that legalizing online sports betting would cause more problems than good, bucking one of his former players in the process: Gov. Jim Pillen.

Osborne, a head coach for 25 seasons between 1973 and 1997, said he could attest that the most intense, negative criticism he’s seen in athletics came not after losing on the scoreboard but in falling short of other standards or metrics, like turnovers and yards lost or gained.

He said he felt for his players who would return to their dorms after playing in front of more than 80,000 fans and thousands more on TV.

“You have a lot on your shoulders ,and you don’t need to have gambling problems exacerbate that problem,” Osborne testified. “The athletic contest becomes less of a sporting event and more of a gambling exercise, with a gambler’s financial security at risk.”

Possible 2024 ballot measure

Osborne, a former U.S House member, testified at a General Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday. The committee heard testimony on three pieces of online sports betting-related legislation introduced by State Sens. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln and Justin Wayne of Omaha.

Legalizing online sports betting would require a constitutional amendment. Bostar proposed one approach with Legislative Resolution 3CA; Wayne proposed another with LR 23CA. 

Bostar also proposed Legislative Bill 13, which would establish a legal framework for mobile sports wagering and open up authorized sporting events to include in-state collegiate sporting events.

Under LB 13, tax revenues from online sports wagering would be distributed as follows:

1. 90% to the Property Tax Credit Cash Fund.
2. 7% to the Racing and Gaming Commission to enforce the laws overseeing casinos, horse racing and sports wagering.
3. 3% to the Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund, which can be used to help Nebraskans harmed by problem gambling and promote awareness of support programs.

LB 13 includes a similar provision as six other bills this special session — to allow constitutional amendments to go onto the ballot if submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office up to 60 days before a general election. The current requirement is four months.

If that doesn’t pass, Nebraskans could lose out on up to $100 million in tax revenue waiting for the 2026 general election, Bostar said.

“I have every confidence that this is going to be on the ballot soon, and the people of Nebraska are going to have an opportunity to have their voice heard,” Bostar told the Examiner before the hearing.

‘We are incentivizing the black market’

Nebraskans are already accessing mobile sports betting, Bostar said, by crossing state lines to neighboring states, such as Iowa; circumventing geolocation technology, like through a virtual private network; or accessing underground, unregulated or foreign betting markets.

“We are incentivizing the black market by not allowing a congregate for people to participate in a regulated environment,” Bostar testified.

Wayne said he watched people leave the College World Series last month and walk across the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge from Omaha to Council Bluffs to place bets before returning.

“We may have lost a million dollars that week,” Wayne said before his hearing. “We can use that for property tax relief.”

Both said the state is already picking up the social costs of gambling but none of the annual revenue, which Bostar estimated would be at least $32 million. The Legislative Fiscal Office said that revenue is “indeterminate,” for now.

Wait for casino revenue

Lance Morgan, president and CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc., the economic development corporation of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, testified in support of legalization. His group was one of the leading groups behind the 2020 ballot initiative to legalize casino gambling.

Morgan said he is not in favor of online casinos but highlighted that online sports betting would be available to rural parts of the state and wouldn’t be a tax shift on Nebraskans but on Iowans.

Osborne testified that if the tax revenue going to Iowa was so beneficial, then Council Bluffs should look more like Abu Dhabi, the extravagant capital of the United Arab Emirates.

He was joined in his opposition in a public letter released before the afternoon hearing with U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb.; former Gov. Kay Orr; and State Auditor Mike Foley.

They said mobile sports betting would allow constant bets on every action in a game “at speeds as fast as slot machines,” which could lead to higher addiction rates.

“Nebraska just legalized casinos at race tracks for the promise of property tax reduction,” the letter states. “Legislators would be wise to allow a few years to see if that promise is delivered before taking another risk to the detriment of our youth and small businesses.”

‘I won’t stand in the way’

Pillen, a defensive back for the Cornhuskers from 1975 to 1978, has said he supports legalization, though he, too, is personally against gambling.

On July 24, one day before the special session began on property taxes, Pillen told the Examiner that the “hardcore reality” is Nebraskans who want to partake in online sports betting already are. 

He’s said he would put forward legislation in 2025, ahead of the next election, to legalize. He hasn’t come out in support of the proposals from Wayne or Bostar. 

However, he confirmed last week he wouldn’t object to legislation, if it were passed.

“I’m an advocate,” Pillen said. “I won’t stand in the way. Anybody who takes that, I’ll support it.”

Bostar said the opposition was to be expected, noting Osborne and the others have consistently opposed any form of gambling.

“Fundamentally though, I’m bringing this not out of love for gambling,” Bostar said. “I’m bringing this because Nebraskans are already doing it and we’re giving away all the money.”

The committee took no immediate action on any of the gambling bills it considered Wednesday.