Nebraska voters appear to say ‘no’ to legalizing online sports betting

Though margins were still slim late Tuesday night, Nebraska voters were on track to reject a pair of ballot measures looking to legalize and regulate online sports betting, according to unofficial results.

Initiative Measures 440 and 441 would together amend the Nebraska Constitution and state law, respectively, to legalize and regulate online sports wagers. Initiative 440 had 239,331 votes “for” and 285,520 “against,” while Initiative 441 had 241,599 votes “for” and 283,159 “against” as of midnight.

Initiative sponsor Jordan McGrain said it was tough to make a call on either ballot measure, but acknowledged that the results as of midnight seemed to be “pretty clear.” He said similar measures that passed in other states succeeded by slim margins; however, he also said Nebraska voters did not appear to respond to the same arguments.

In 2020, Nebraskans authorized casino gambling at the state’s existing five racetracks. Under current state law, annual gaming revenue is taxed at 20%, and 70% of that amount is directed to property tax relief credits.

Since then, there have been multiple attempts in the Nebraska Legislature to legalize online sports betting, but all have been foiled. The repeated failures prompted a petition drive to put the issue on the ballot, under the group Tax Relief Nebraska.

Supporters largely argued that Nebraskans would participate in online wagering regardless of state law, which sends the tax revenue to other states like Iowa that have legalized the practice. Critics have long argued that the possible revenue benefits do not outweigh the social costs of the state effectively encouraging gambling.

Tax Relief Nebraska’s campaign was loudly opposed by a collection of advocacy groups and state officials, and the opposition continued to intensify once the petitions garnered enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. This included a dedicated opposition campaign called Save Nebraska Sports, which included backers such as State Auditor Mike Foley and Treasurer Joey Spellerberg.

Spellerberg celebrated the initiatives’ apparent failure during his victory speech for the state treasurer’s race Tuesday night. He described the gambling battle as a “David and Goliath” matchup, saying Save Nebraska Sports was outspent 20-1 by Tax Relief Nebraska.

Spellerberg said the results were a sign that Nebraskans didn’t want the harmful impacts of gambling in their state. Despite the advertising claims that legalizing online sports betting would help cut property taxes, Spellerberg said, he believed voters understood that the actual tax benefits would be negligible.

“Voters in Nebraska looked right past that,” Spellerberg said.