Online Sports Betting Makes the Nebraska Ballot Despite Controversy
Credit: J. Stephen Conn/Flickr
Nebraska voters will decide the future of online sports betting this fall after the Secretary of State’s office certified two related petitions for the November general election ballot.
Secretary of State Bob Evnen’s office announced on Aug. 21 that both the Online Sports Betting Authorization Constitutional Amendment and the Online Sports Wagering Regulation Initiative had cleared the state’s signature thresholds and would appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.
This is a milestone the industry-backed campaign reached even as an investigation surrounded allegedly fraudulent signatures and a national watchdog called for a probe into the efforts.
Supporters Believe Tax Dollars Are Being Lost to Neighbors
The pair of measures is intended to work in tandem. The constitutional amendment would revise the Nebraska Constitution to permit a law authorizing sports betting over the internet, provided that the bettor is located within state lines.
The companion statutory initiative fills in the operational detail, such as setting licensing and geolocation rules, requiring state services, and directing the state’s Racing and Gaming Commission to adopt regulations by June 1, 2027.
Under the proposed framework, only Nebraska’s existing licensed gaming operators, which have ties to the state’s racetrack casinos, could offer online betting. Each operator could partner with up to two sportsbook platform providers, so there could be up to a dozen apps operational in the state.
Nebraska currently only allows sports betting in person at licensed racetrack casinos, with total betting revenue reaching just $9.3 million in 2025 and generating fewer than than $2 million in taxes. Supporters cite this as evidence that the state is losing tax dollars to neighbors where mobile betting is already legal. Each of Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Iowa, and Missouri has online betting.
Passing the Thresholds With Ease
The bar for reaching the ballot is high and differs by measure type. A constitutional amendment petition in Nebraska needs valid signatures from at least 10% of the state’s registered voters and signatures equaling at least 5% of registered voters in 38 of the state’s 93 counties.
The authorization amendment cleared that mark with at least 138,473 signatures and hit the county threshold in 64 jurisdictions.
A statutory initiative has a lower statewide bar of 7% of statewide voters and the same 38-county distribution requirement. The regulation initiative got at least 96,918 valid signatures and met the thresholds in 55 counties.
In both cases, the state’s Elections Division instructed county offices to stop verifying signatures once valid totals reached 100% of the required amount, as state law requires.
That explains the difference between the approximate 350,000 signatures the organizers submitted during the summer across two petitions and the smaller “at least” figures the state certified.
The certification isn’t the final step, as the Secretary of State’s office plans to hold public hearings on the measures in each of Nebraska’s three congressional districts and to produce an informational brochure for voters. The office must certify the full 2026 general election ballot by Sept. 11.
Investigation Into Fraudulent Petition Signatures
One issue continues to put a dark cloud over the proposals. The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an investigation into possibly fraudulent signatures.
The probe started after authorities discovered thousands of alleged fraudulent signatures on petitions to amend the Lincoln City Charter and widened from there. Authorities have arrested six people in connection with the signature probe as of mid-August.
Election officials have said that they did not count the signatures flagged as potentially fraudulent among the valid totals used to certify the sports betting measures.
Supporters were also quick to note that the referral did not just target the gaming petitions. Lancaster County Election Commissioner Todd Wiltgen forwarded suspect signatures from every statewide ballot initiative for investigation.
Concerns Over the Origins of Donations
A separate controversy relates to who is paying for the campaign. The Legal Accountability Center, in early August, asked the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission to investigate potential international influence in the funding of Tax Relief Nebraska, which is a pro-betting advocacy group.
Contributions from FanDuel and MGM subsidiary Roar Digital are drawing scrutiny. These two parties donated more than $3.5 million together to the committee.
The center’s executive director, Michael Teter, noted that both companies have ties to corporate parents with headquarters in Ireland and the United Kingdom, which he argued warrants a closer look under state laws restricting foreign-linked spending on ballot measures.
Teter said that state law has exceptions only when the donor’s corporate parent is a foreign entity and when foreign leadership doesn’t control the decisions to contribute.
He also pointed out that FanDuel has contributed to the campaign of Attorney General Mike Hilgers and that gaming interests have given Hilgers and Gov. Jim Pillen tens of thousands of dollars since last year, which he says raises questions about whether the state could apply its laws evenhandedly.
Not a Major Hurdle to Appearing on the Ballot
Supporters dismiss the complaint. Director of Government Relations at WarHorse Casino Lynne McNally, who backs the petitions, says she has worked only with U.S.-based FanDuel personnel and said that the foreign influence claims are “non-issues that are just based entirely in fantasy.”
It looks likely that voters now hold the decision over the fate of online sports betting after previous attempts failed to get sufficient political support.
The coming months will involve public hearings, a well-funded advertising push, and continued attention on both the fraud investigation and funding complaint. Everything will become clear on Nov. 3.
Image: J. Stephen Conn/Flickr (license)
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
