Nebraska senator offers legalizing online sports gambling to bring tax relief

Legislative Bill 13 and Legislative Resolution 3CA would set the stage for Nebraskans to vote on legalizing online sports betting this November. Introduced by State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln, he claimed legalizing the practice would generate approximately $32 million in state revenues per year.

State lawmakers are looking at ways to increase state revenues to make room for property tax relief in a special session called by Gov. Jim Pillen. Bostar argued the state currently loses out on a major revenue source offered by online sports betting, with many Nebraskans traveling across state lines to Iowa, where the practice is legal.

“We’re paying the cost, but we’re not getting the revenue,” Bostar said.

Voters legalized casino gambling in 2020 through a referendum, and Bostar said that paved the way for other forms of gambling to expand. Most of the people who testified in support of Bostar’s proposals Wednesday were involved in the referendum.

Opponents of Bostar’s proposals largely pointed to the morality of fostering gambling addictions in the state. Nate Grasz with the Nebraska Family Alliance called gambling addiction the “next public health crisis,” and Huskers coach Tom Osborne said Bostar’s proposals would only contribute to the speed and convenience of such addictions.

“We are not going to gamble our way out of our property tax problem,” Grasz said.

U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, who has actively opposed expanded gambling in Nebraska for two decades, told reporters Wednesday that legalizing online sports better has the effect of turning every phone computer or tablet into a gambling device.

He said he was particularly troubled that the companies that offer online sport betting try to make the action on the applications fast, which he said makes them addictive. The phone and computer apps allow betting not just on the final score, but on action within the game, such as whether a team will get a first down on its next drive.

“So the whole point of these applications has been (to be) very fast moving, very similar to a slot machine,” he said. “That leads to addiction.”

At the state Capitol, Bostar acknowledged the dangers of gambling addictions, but countered that many Nebraskans already gamble online, and claimed there are roughly 64,000 mobile sports betting accounts based in the state. Several testifiers also noted that keep online gambling illegal leaves riskier alternatives as the only options for participants.

Lance Morgan, CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc., the economic development arm of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska that led the 2020 referendum effort, called Nebraska the Wild West when it comes to online sports betting.

Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, who sits on the General Affairs Committee, said while he doesn’t want to support gambling, he is more concerned with the decreasing population in his district, which he attributed to property tax increases.

Brewer noted that Bostar’s proposals would raise state revenues to allow for tax relief without requiring many of the cuts to state programs Pillen suggested in his plan. He asked several opposing testifiers to propose alternative revenue sources in place of legalizing online sports betting. But few ideas were suggested.

“We’re at a critical point now where we have to figure out a solution,” Brewer said.

World-Herald staff writer Henry Cordes contributed to this report.