Nebraskans Vote Against Legal Online Sports Betting
Nebraskans voted against legalizing online sports betting Tuesday in a decisive blow against the predatory gambling industry.
“This is one of the greatest David-and-Goliath victories in the history of Nebraska politics,” Nate Grasz, executive director of Focus on the Family-allied Nebraska Family Alliance, wrote in a statement.
“Nebraskans stood up to powerful gambling corporations with seemingly limitless resources and refused to let them buy their way into our state.”
Four major online sportsbooks — FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM and Fanatics — spent more than $20 million this year to support Nebraska Initiative Measures 440 and 441.
Measure 440, the Online Sports Wagering Authorization Amendment, would have amended Nebraska’s Constitution to allow authorized gambling operators to offer online sports betting.
Measure 441, the Online Sports Wagering Regulation Initiative, would have amended state laws to legalize online sports betting.
Nebraskans had to vote “no” on both measures to shut the door on online sports betting. On Tuesday, citizens defeated the pair in nearly identical 54.9% to 45.1% and 54.5% to 45.5% votes, respectively.
Nebraska’s sound rebuff of online sports betting is particularly impressive given the industry money spent, and alleged dirty tactics used, to convince Nebraskans it would be good for the state.
FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM and Fanatics contributed more than $22 million through October 26 to support Measures 440 and 441 using a ballot question committee called “Tax Relief Nebraska.”
The committee, which outspent the opposition by more than $20 million, financed a campaign claiming online sports betting would generate $87 million in tax revenue for the state over the next five years. An estimated 70%, a little over $60 million, would ostensibly have funded property tax credits.
But Nebraska Family Alliance (and, evidently, many Nebraskans) did the math. Split over five years, that would have been about $12 million in property tax relief each year — less than half of one percent of Nebraska’s annual property tax burden.
What’s worse, for the state to make $87 million in taxes off of online sports betting, Nebraskans would have first had to lose $435 million to companies like DraftKings and FanDuel.
That means citizens would have had to gamble away $7 for every dollar they received in property tax credit.
“This was never about tax relief,” Grasz wrote in his statement. “This was about trying to turn every phone into a casino, every play into a wager, and enriching out-of-state gambling corporations at the expense of Nebraska families.”
By voting “no” on legal online sports betting, Nebraskans may shield their state from some of the social and financial consequences of legalization. A recent UCLA and Harvard-based study of more than 5 million people, for instance, found allowing online sports betting coincided with:
- A more than 12-point drop in a state’s average credit score.
- A 25% and 27% increase in a state’s delinquency rate on auto loan and credit card payments, respectively.
- A 9% increase in the average amount of money in collections in a state.
- A 25% increase in the average person’s likelihood of filing for bankruptcy.
These financial harms disproportionately impacted those with credit scores already below 600 points.
Several lawsuits accuse online sportsbooks like DraftKings of using unethical business practices to create and target problem gamblers.
Problem gamblers’ addiction, in turn, negatively affects an average of five people close to them, an authoritative Australian study determined in 2017.
As many as one in four problem gamblers report engaging in domestic violence, and nearly one in five report experiencing domestic violence. One in seven admit to engaging in child abuse.
Upwards of 30% of problem gamblers experience suicidal ideation, per the American Psychological Association.
As online sports betting continues to take up more space in the cultural zeitgeist, yesterday’s victory in Nebraska proves the predatory gambling industry isn’t invincible —and Americans are watching closely.
The Daily Citizen fervently hopes Nebraska’s vote is a sign of things to come in other states.
Additional Articles and Resources
Gambling Industry Targets Nebraska to Legalize Online Sports Betting
Online Sports Betting Significantly Worsens Financial Health, Study Suggests
DraftKings Intentionally Creates Gambling Addicts, New Lawsuit Alleges
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