Nebraska Casinos Champion Petition For Digital Sports Betting
The Nebraska State Capitol building in Lincoln.
Nebraska casinos have organized a petition to legalize digital sports betting to put pressure on lawmakers to implement these changes.
Nebraska Casinos Want Digital Sports Betting
Sports betting is legal in Nebraska, but there is a catch.
In-person sports betting in Nebraska is legal at licensed racetrack casinos. However, digital sports betting — online and mobile — is prohibited.
In 2025, select members of the Nebraska Legislature discussed the idea of making digital sports betting legal.
“Let’s bring in resources at a time when it’s desperately needed, desperately needed, let’s collect revenue on something that is absolutely already happening,” said Nebraska Senator Dunixi Guereca via First Alert 6.
Part of the argument supporting digital sports betting is revenue-related, as the state continues to lose out on millions.
“We contributed $66 million in taxes last year between Lincoln and Omaha,” Lynne McNally, government director of Warhorse Casino, said. “This would probably be close to a hundred million dollars when you include mobile sports betting as well.
The bill never passed, which led the casinos to band together and champion a petition and sports betting amendment.
“It’s Warhorse casinos in conjunction with the Sports Betting Alliance, and the Sports Betting Alliance is all of the national operators that have sports betting now — DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM,” McNally explained. “Fanatics is a member. They’re a few others as well.”
What Would Nebraska Digital Sports Betting Look Like?
Casino owners are offering a compromise for digital sports betting. If passed, bettors would not be allowed to bet on Nebraska sports teams when they play in the state. Eventually, casino owners would like to see that happen, but for now, they’re content with leaving it off the bill.
“The CA is very simple. It just says that you can take online wagers in affiliation with a licensed race track enclosure so that’s the CA real simple,” McNally said. The statute changes a few technical items we’re looking to go out in the field the next couple of weeks.”
McNally and the casinos believe that Nebraska residents are betting in other neighboring states, including Iowa, which allows bettors to wager on their phones. In McNally’s mind, Nebraska is losing money that could be theirs.
“We want to keep the money in Nebraska again, that’s what we’d like to do,” McNally said.
One of the biggest advocates against digital sports betting is Pat Loontjer, an anti-gambling figure and executive director for Gambling with the Good Life. Loontjer testified against digital sports betting last year and plans to do it again if the bill is resurrected.
Tags/Keywords
Players trust our reporting due to our commitment to unbiased and professional evaluations of the iGaming sector. We track hundreds of platforms and industry updates daily to ensure our news feed and leaderboards reflect the most recent market shifts. With nearly two decades of experience within iGaming, our team provides a wealth of expert knowledge. This long-standing expertise enables us to deliver thorough, reliable news and guidance to our readers.
Latest News
