Nebraska Moves Closer to Legalizing Online Sports Betting
The campaign to legalize online sports betting in Nebraska submitted the required number of signatures by the deadline.
The group that led the campaign to legalize online sports betting in Nebraska is Tax Relief Nebraska. They had two initiatives totaling more than 350,000 signatures, which were turned in by the July 2 deadline.
Legalizing online sports betting in Nebraska
Both initiatives got well over the required number of votes.
One initiative legalizing online sports betting received over 201,000 signatures, exceeding the required 126,000. The other initiative proposes sending 70% of sports betting tax revenue to property tax relief and received 146,000 signatures, exceeding the required 88,000.
What would happen
If the initiatives on the ballot pass a public vote, online sports betting would become legal in Nebraska and regulated by the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission. The commission would have to amend the state's gaming rules if the ballot is approved.
The legal age to bet online would be 21+. That's what it is now, as sports gambling is legal in Nebraska but only at the land-based tribal casinos.
WarHorse with help from the big brands
The online sports betting issue has been led by WarHorse, a racetrack and casino in Nebraska, which has pushed for it for years. Local investors also helped in the cause, and two of the major U.S. sportsbooks, DraftKings and FanDuel, each donated $1 million to the campaign.
WarHorse has stated that legal online sports gambling would help create jobs and bring in tax revenue. It also said that if online sports betting was legal, it would keep Nebraskans from wagering on offshore sites and from traveling to neighboring states to bet, thereby depriving the state of tax revenue.
All five states that border Nebraska allow legal online sports betting.
Fast-tracking the process
The new campaign for online sports betting in Nebraska would fast-track the issue. Rather than go through the state legislature, as a similar attempt in 2025 did, the new one would bypass it, sending the issue straight to Nebraska voters.
The 2025 campaign was pulled from the ballot and never saw a vote.
It's no surprise that supporters of the 2026 campaign have stated that bypassing legislation is the fastest way to secure approval for online sports betting.
The campaign moved quickly into action: the idea was conceived in the fall of 2025, and it began collecting signatures in February.
Still a challenging road ahead
While online sports betting is now legal in many states, it's still a tricky issue.
Recently, a representative in New Mexico urged the state’s tribes to legalize online gambling around the state and not just in the casinos. On the other side of the coin, in Ohio, the Save Ohio Sports Act was introduced; if passed, it would restrict mobile betting to casinos, even though it is currently legal statewide.
Also, state regulators and leading U.S. online sportsbooks have been fighting with the federally regulated prediction markets. The argument is that prediction markets offer the same type of sports bets (called event contract trades) as sportsbooks, but states are not receiving any tax revenue.
States are suing prediction markets, seeking to ban their services in those states. Conversely, the prediction markets and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates them, have also filed suits against the states.
