Nebraska Takes Steps to Legalize Mobile Sports Betting
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00:00Maybe, just maybe before the end of the year, we could have some potential news on that.
00:09Thanks for coming on the show.
00:10Let's learn more about it.
00:11Thanks as always, Craig.
00:12Yeah, I, you know, the last couple of years has been a huge boom to the U.S. sports betting
00:19map.
00:20It seems like, you know, I mean, I just was going back a couple of days ago looking at
00:23like 2022 and how many states legalized.
00:27It was a ton.
00:28And then this year, it's just kind of the wind came out of the sails.
00:32You know, all the low hanging fruit of the states that could legalize are gone.
00:36So now the few states that are left that could, you know, we'll leave Utah off the table.
00:41They're all pretty difficult lifts.
00:44I mean, in Minnesota, we've got the tribal racetrack situation, Missouri, we've got,
00:49you know, we'll talk about that in a second.
00:51In the legislature, you've got, you know, a big Senate opponent, Georgia, you've got
00:55difficult bipartisan, you know, partisanships.
00:59So everything's difficult there.
01:01One state we didn't think would really be moving this year was Nebraska.
01:05They legalized in-person sports betting, well, they legalized it two years ago, but it launched
01:10last year.
01:11And we thought, you know, maybe we'll just kind of ride that for a little bit.
01:15But Governor Jim Pillen has said, you know what, we need to reduce the property tax burden
01:20on our residents.
01:21And so he called a special session that just started last week to really work on cutting
01:27that burden on his residents.
01:31And you know, included in that now is a bill to legalize mobile online sports betting that
01:38the sponsor says could raise $32 million per year, and 90% of that would go to lower property
01:46taxes or a relief fund to help pay for property taxes or make up the difference.
01:53And you know, I think it's got the governor's approval, so that's big.
01:58Nebraska's a unicameral legislator, the only one in the country.
02:03So it shouldn't be too big of a lift, I don't think, with the support of the governor, and
02:07it seems like a lot of people behind it in the lawmaker support.
02:14So we'll see what happens.
02:16I don't know how long this special session will last, it could be anywhere from a couple
02:22more days to a couple more weeks to get what the governor wants done.
02:27If it does pass, it still has to go to the ballot in November.
02:31You know, but it seems like support is there in the state because, you know, it does have
02:35sports betting already.
02:36And it looks like there's a lot of action.
02:38You know, we got a geo comply report that says in the first six months, you had 2 million
02:43people try to log into sportsbook accounts.
02:46And so that's, you know, a significant amount.
02:49So we'll see what happens.
02:50It would have to go to the ballot if it doesn't pass this year.
02:54Whether it doesn't get out of the legislature or it doesn't pass at the ballot, it'll be
02:58until 2026 before we see it again, and potentially in Nebraska.
03:02So you know, it's get it done this year or you'll wait some more time.
03:06But it is potentially a state that could be added to the map for online sports betting
03:10anyway.