Nebraska Voters to Decide Online Sports Betting Question This November
Petitions funded largely by FanDuel and DraftKings put a constitutional amendment and gaming-law changes on Nebraska's Nov. 3 ballot.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited by the ON360 newsroom.
Nebraska voters will decide this November whether to allow online sports betting statewide, after organizers submitted enough signatures to place two related questions on the Nov. 3 ballot. The state’s Secretary of State, Robert B. Evnen, confirmed the petition drives succeeded late last week, according to Gambling Insider.
Nebraskans will be asked to approve a constitutional amendment permitting online wagering, along with a companion measure that would revise state gaming law and direct the Racing and Gaming Commission to draft regulations. The state legalized sports betting in 2021 but restricted it to in-person wagers at licensed casinos located at racetracks.
Big operators bankroll the push
The campaign is heavily backed by the industry’s largest names. Records from the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission show the committee behind the petition, Tax Relief Nebraska, has raised $7.4 million this election cycle and already spent more than $5.1 million.
DraftKings and FanDuel each contributed more than $3.5 million. BetMGM added $250,000, and Fanatics gave $75,000. Those four companies account for all of the funding disclosed so far.
Organizers gathered more than 235,000 valid signatures across all 93 Nebraska counties, beating a July 2 submission deadline. It’s a familiar path in the state. Nebraskans approved three separate casino-related ballot measures in November 2020, each clearing at least 65 per cent support.
Prediction markets loom over the vote
The timing is notable. Nebraska would be the first state to legalize online sports betting through a ballot initiative since the Commodity Futures Trading Commission cleared federally regulated prediction markets to offer sports contracts more than 18 months ago.
Nebraska has not sued Kalshi or other prediction-market operators, unlike several other states. But Attorney General Mike Hilgers joined 40 other state attorneys general earlier this year in a letter to CFTC Chair Michael Selig, arguing the federal regulator lacks authority to oversee sports-related contracts.
Three of the four operators funding the Nebraska campaign, DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics, also run prediction-market platforms and currently handle sports contracts in the state. None of the three currently offer sports trading in states where they already hold sportsbook licences. Sources told Gambling Insider it is too early to say whether that pattern would hold in Nebraska if the ballot measures pass.
A smaller market with tighter rules
If voters approve the measures, each of Nebraska’s five casinos could partner with up to two online sportsbook platforms. Fewer than 10 operators are expected to launch initially, in line with neighbouring markets. Missouri, the most recent state to go live, has eight online operators; North Carolina has seven; Wyoming has five and Kansas has seven, despite both border states having smaller populations than Missouri or North Carolina.
Nebraska, the 13th-smallest state by population at just over two million residents, would also apply some of the tightest restrictions in the country. Betting on in-state college events involving Nebraska schools would remain banned, along with prop bets tied to individual student-athlete performances and in-game wagering on any contest featuring a Nebraska team, wherever it’s played. Given the popularity of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Creighton University, that carve-out could meaningfully limit overall betting volume.
Licensed operators would pay a 20 per cent tax on gross gaming revenue, matching the rate already applied to the state’s casinos, with promotional spending deductible. Nebraska voters will render their verdict on Nov. 3.
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