BEATRICE – Two southeast Nebraska state lawmakers have no problem with voters deciding whether Nebraska should allow mobile device sports betting.


Nebraska has lost out on a lot of revenue from states such as Iowa….who have legalized it.


Senator Tom Brandt of Plymouth said people are kidding themselves if they don’t believe people from Nebraska are participating in mobile sports betting. "The largest sports betting spot in Iowa is the gravel intersection off the end of the Mormon Bridge...because once you get halfway over the Mormon Bridge in Omaha, you're outside the geo-fence that keeps your phones from betting with the Iowa casinos. You can park your car, place your bet, turn around and come back to Omaha."


Senator Elliot Bostar has proposed a constitutional amendment to place the issue on the November 2026 election ballot.  Senator Myron Dorn says he prefers going to ballot route, to determine whether mobile device sports betting is allowed in Nebraska.


"I'm very much in favor of putting stuff in front of the people to vote on, and am also in favor of this bill. We'll see where it goes on second round when it comes up for debate...to see if it has enough for a cloture vote, because that's what it's going to have to have."


Senator Brandt says as the state faces a budget deficit and appetite for tax relief…looking for new sources of revenue is part of the solution. "We can use the income from the sports bet. The sports bet would go through our existing sports books like War Horse or Grand Island, or Caesar's up in Columbus. The fiscal note on that estimated probably 30-to-34 million dollars in annual income. That would all go toward property tax relief."


Brandt says if the constitutional amendment does not make it to the 2026 ballot, it’s likely gambling interests will try to accomplish the same goal through the initiative petition process.


He says under the constitutional amendment, the state would receive 20-percent of the revenue for property tax relief. Under a ballot initiative, that would be 6.5-percent.  Part of the revenue raised would also go into a problem gamblers fund.