Nebraska Sports Betting Bills Dead, 2025 Appears Unlikely for Sportsbook Expansion

Posted on: April 24, 2025, 12:58h. 

Last updated on: April 24, 2025, 01:06h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More

Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

• Nebraska sports betting will remain limited to retail sportsbooks
• Sports bets can only be made at a physical casino
• After years of sports betting expansion, legislation has slowed

Legislative efforts to expand legal sports betting to the internet in Nebraska are on hold for at least another year.

During the 2020 November presidential election, Nebraskans passed a statewide constitutional amendment to allow casinos with slot machines, table games, and sports betting at licensed horse racetracks that conduct live racing. Though sports betting was not explicitly mentioned in the ballot question, lawmakers later interpreted the outcome to include sports wagering, but only on the physical grounds of a regulated casino.

As such, Nebraska sports betting remains limited to retail sportsbooks. Online sportsbooks remain prohibited, though many Nebraskans are using offshore gaming websites to make their wagers, something that supporters of legal online books say is costing the state tax money.

2026 Referendum Dead 

Nebraska Sen. Eliot Bostar (D-Lincoln) wanted to allow Nebraskans to decide if sports betting should be allowed online through another gaming referendum during the 2026 midterms. Legislative Resolution 20 would have presented the question to voters next fall, but on Wednesday, Bostar pulled the measure.

Bostar, among the youngest members of the Nebraska Legislature at 37 years old, told reporters he didn’t have the support to circumvent an anticipated filibuster on LR20.

The votes changed back and forth throughout this entire process. It’s a very dynamic and fluid situation. I think it’s responsible to move on to other things,” Bostar said.

Sen. Brad von Gillern (R-Elkhorn) said the state’s 2020 gaming authorization was to revitalize horse racing and reduce property taxes — not to become the Las Vegas of the Midwest. Von Gillern said allowing sports betting online would lead to problem gambling and addiction, with young men most at risk.

I can attest that many men in their 20s do not have the wisdom to abstain from things that are harmful to themselves,” von Gillern said.

Legislative Bill 421, introduced in January by Sen. Stanley Clouse (R-Buffalo), a bill that would bypass the referendum in recognizing online sports gambling as a permissible form of gambling approved by voters in 2020, met a similar fate to LR20. Clouse argued that the 2020 referendum allowed for online sports betting, so long as an online sportsbook’s IT system is based within a racetrack casino’s property.

Along with opponents of allowing easier access to gambling like von Gillern, Clouse’s bill faced legal questions about whether the 2020 referendum permitted online sportsbooks regardless of whether the sports betting operations are located within a licensed casino. LB421 received a hearing in the General Affairs Committee last month but was later shelved.

Sports Betting Idles 

With many state legislatures nearing the end of their sessions, the odds at this juncture of a state joining the 39 and Washington, DC, that have passed laws to allow sports betting seem long. Missouri was the only state to legalize sports betting in 2024.

Along with Nebraska, lawmakers in Mississippi this year opted not to move forward with an online sports betting bill.