This year’s mid-term elections occur on Tuesday, November 3rd – just under a month away. In addition to candidates for various local, state, and federal offices, the fate of several ballot initiatives will be determined by Nebraska voters. This year three public initiatives will appear on the ballot, along with one Constitutional amendment passed by the Legislature. Two of the public initiatives are tied together and relate to online sports gambling.
Initiative Measures 440 and 441 would allow online sports betting in Nebraska. Initiative 440 would amend the Nebraska Constitution to authorize the passage of laws to allow online sports betting in our state. Initiative 441 would enact the online sports gambling law that Initiative 440 authorizes. The supporters of both measures contend that online sports betting will generate economic activity and provide for property tax relief, up to $166 million over ten years. Opponents of online sports betting share how sports betting in other states has negatively impacted families, student-athletes, while transferring profits to out-of-state online gambling platforms.
The Nebraska Secretary of State has published a pamphlet detailing the exact language for the measures along with a sample of how the two initiatives will appear on the ballot. You can read that pamphlet here:
I urge you to read through this information to become informed about these two initiatives that would allow online sports betting in Nebraska.
A few other considerations that relate to these ballot measures:
· In-person sports betting is currently legal at four operational casinos in Nebraska;
As of August, several national online sports betting platforms have spent nearly $6.8 million to support both measures
(https://nadc-e.nebraska.gov/PublicSite/Reports/FetchReportToPDF.aspx);
· Legalizing and taxing a new form of gambling tends to cannibalize the tax revenue from existing forms of gambling (slot machines, lottery, horse track, etc): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7780079/
· Prediction markets are currently regulated by the federal government. Therefore, if enacted, these new laws would not apply to wagering on sports using prediction markets and would not be subject to state taxation;
· Regarding property tax relief, the state currently spends $1.2 billion in annual property tax credits. An additional $16.6 million in annual property tax relief generated from online sports betting would increase direct property tax relief by 1.38%.
The Secretary of State is holding a series of hearings on all three ballot measures, one in each Congressional district. To learn more about these visit: https://sos.nebraska.gov/sites/default/files/doc/news-releases/Three%20public%20hearings%20scheduled%20for%20general%20election%20ballot%20measures.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawUrrDxleHRuA2FlbQIxMABwZG9mBWJyaWQRMWFDbFJza0NUYm05UUxkOTFzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeDK8YQa1BBVgDDdjNzsm49tjTbAXJnnvNsRtVivK0ulBCHKwGdYUKJIkOG1w_aem_erIh5WJtQoYJ40QKZ5W7KQ
As always, if I can be of assistance to you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact my office. My staff members – Matt and Katie – are available to assist you with your needs and they pass along messages, so if you’d like a call back, please let them know!
Email: jana.hughes@leg.ne.gov
Phone: 402-471-2756
