Nebraska Approves Gaming Expansion

Last week, Nebraska approved a gaming overhaul in the Cornhusker State. The state passed three constitutional amendments that will allow all six racetracks to offer casino gaming, and the amendments passed by a nearly two-to-one vote.

This will help the gaming industry in Nebraska. Reports estimate that nearly $500 million in gaming revenue leaves the state each year as Nebraskans head to a neighboring state to gamble at casinos. Now, that will soon change with the state expanding its gaming industry.

This could help lead the way for sports betting to become legal in Nebraska as the state gets ready to expand gaming. However, that is still a long road to be had, but the Cornhusker State moves in the right direction with the gaming industry.

What Will Nebraska Gaming Look Like?

Keep the Money in Nebraska was a campaign to help pass the gaming amendments. The campaign raised over $3 million to help educate Nebraskans on why they should vote “yes” for the amendments. There was also strong support to vote “no” on passing the gaming amendments, citing that addiction will go up with gaming expansion. At the end of the day, the “yes” votes prevailed, and Nebraska will add to the gaming industry.

Nebraska is expected to allow all six racetracks to offer slots and table games. The expansion will begin at the racetracks as they already have establishments for people to go to. Commercial casinos should not be too far behind once approved and built.

There will still be time before racetracks have operating casino games, but it should be in the early part of 2021. This should also help bring in more revenue to the Nebraska racetracks as well.

Neighboring states are nervous about the potential loss in revenue with Nebraska expanding gaming. Iowa has reported that the state sees $500 million in bets from Nebraska, and that could now be lost if Nebraskans stay home to gamble.

Is Sports Betting on the Table?

Although there are no signs that sports betting will become legal along with casino gaming, there is hope that the gaming expansion will bring sports betting one step closer to being legalized in Nebraska. The state will need to consider sports betting becoming legal as more lawmakers will most likely try to bring a bill forward to expand the gaming industry even further.

However, there is an issue that sports betting could face. The state just allowed “games of chance” to be legalized in the Cornhusker State. Sports betting is viewed as a “game of skill” and would not be considered under the current gaming expansion.

On the other side, sports betting would also not fall in any state’s gaming regulations, so there would be a need for precedent to legalize the industry. Nebraska has tried to legal daily fantasy sports, and it did not come to fruition.

There is a chance that Nebraska would have to create a sports betting bill to have a chance at legalization. Lawmakers will need to decide on what they will need to do to legalize sports betting.