A special legislative session called by Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen could bolster the state’s chances of legalizing mobile sports betting, while an ancillary benefit would also allow retail and online sports bettors to wager on in-state college events and college player props.
Gov Wants Lower Taxes
Had it not been for Governor Jim Pillen’s call for a special legislative session to charge legislators with crafting ways of lowering property taxes in the state, mobile sports betting would be off the table until next year.
However, now that Nebraska lawmakers have reconvened, it allows proponents of online sports betting the chance to pass legislation that would allow a referendum on November’s ballot where the voters would decide.
Nebraska State Senator Carol Blood previously sponsored LB6, a measure that would legalize, regulate, and license mobile sports betting, thus generating tax revenue expressly intended to lower property taxes in the Cornhusker State.
“You can’t keep controlling morality. We’re very willing to do ‘sin taxes’ when we don’t agree that people should drink or smoke,” Blood said. “Here’s an opportunity for us to be forward-thinking and to relieve the property tax burden, how great is that?”
Will the Voters Decide?
In a more recent bid to bring mobile sports betting to the Cornhusker State, Senator Eliot Bostar has sponsored two companion bills, LB-13 and Legislative Resolution 3CA, that are getting the most attention in the special session.
The former bill (LB-13) reads as follows: “The Legislature finds that Nebraska relies more heavily on local property taxes to support public education compared to other states and consistently ranks in the top ten among all states in terms of per capita property tax burden on its citizens. The Legislature further finds that it is important to authorize and impose a tax upon the gross gaming of sports wagering by means of an online sports wagering platform in order to create a property tax relief program to reduce the tax liability of property taxes paid to support public education.”
Bostar’s companion bill, LR 3CA, is the constitutional amendment that would allow the issue of online sports betting to be decided by the voters. However, the unicameral legislation would have to approve it by a four-fifths margin before it could proceed to the ballot box in November.
It was recently reported that LR 3CA has successfully advanced from the Nebraska Legislature’s General Affairs Committee and is waiting for the legislature to act. Yet, LB-13 remains in limbo, and even if the amendment does get on the ballot, a provision would then return it to the legislature, where they would have to approve it.
A Silver Lining
The silver lining in all of this for mobile sports betting proponents is that if the moon and stars align and the sports betting bills do reach the ballot box and are subsequently signed into law, it could expedite the legalization of online sports betting in Nebraska to as early as 2025 instead of 2026.
“The demand for mobile sports betting is clear,” Sen. Eliot Bostar said during a July 31 committee hearing. “And it’s in our best interest to regulate and benefit from it.”
