A Message from Our Executive Director: “Our work is still crucially important.”

Dear Supporters,

It was a sad day for Nebraska when initiative 429 passed. This constitutional amendment will allow all forms of casino gambling all over our great state.

Gambling with the Good Life fought hard, we gave it our all, but the millions of dollars put up by the gambling industry overwhelmed us. For the past 25 years we successfully fought to prevent that from ever happening here and we were shocked by the results.

The day after the election, the Winnebago tribe announced that they had $300 million ready to build the first three major casinos in Omaha, Lincoln, and South Sioux City. We fear this is only the beginning. Will they begin offering sports betting on cell phones? This is Tom Osborne’s worst fear, as it will destroy the integrity of sports and corrupt our young people.

Our work is still crucially important.

The new Legislature will be reconvening in January and they always introduces bills to expand gambling. We have managed to defeat those efforts every time and we will be there to do it again in 2021.

We also hope to be offering bills to minimize the damage that casino gambling will cause. We must continue to fight this uphill battle for the sake of all the families and businesses that will be adversely affected in the near future.

My favorite quote is “God has called us to faithfulness, not results.” We certainly don’t like the election results, but our work is not finished – our faithfulness must continue.

With your help we will carry on and continue to oppose expanded gambling in all forms.

Blessings,
Pat Loontjer

Protect Nebraska from Unlimited Casino Gambling – Vote NO on 429, 430, 431

Protect Nebraska from Unlimited Casino Gambling – Vote No on 429, 430, 431

1. Nebraska’s leadership is united against gambling, trust them.

Who is for casinos? Gambling operators. They stand to make millions.

  • Nebraska’s leaders oppose 429, 430, and 431: Governor Pete Ricketts, Congressman Tom Osborne, Senator Bob Kerrey, Senator Mike Johanns, Governor Dave Heineman, Governor Kay Orr, Ron Brown, Warren Buffett, Chuck Hassebrook, Johnny Rodgers and many others.

2. 429 allows 24/7 gambling anywhere across Nebraska, including your community.

The initiative abolishes our constitutional protection against casinos. Instead, unelected commissioners could allow gambling at any “licensed racetrack enclosure.”

  • A “racetrack” could offer 24/7 casino gambling 365 days/year by holding just one race per year. Such “licensed racetrack enclosures” could open across the state.
  • 429 authorizes every kind of gambling—slot machines, sports betting, online gambling—with no oversight from the legislature or public.
  • 429 also automatically and immediately allows tribes to operate their own casinos – unlimited, untaxed, and no local control.

3. Casino gambling will INCREASE Nebraska taxes.

Casino gambling creates social costs that ruin lives, families, businesses, and communities. But gambling operators don’t pay for these harms. Taxpayers do.

  • Iowa has raised taxes since gambling moved in.
  • Think “ABCs”: Addiction. Bankruptcies. Crime.
  • Casino states tax their citizens more heavily than states without casinos, concludes Creighton University Economist Dr. Ernie Goss in a 2019 study.

4. “Keep the Money in Nebraska” is a lie. Casinos drain money out of economies.

“Slots in Nebraska will just drain more money out of the state,” says John E. Anderson, University of Nebraska Department of Economics.

  • CEO Warren Buffett says, “It’s just a big loser for everyone…you don’t need more of it.”
  • When Detroit voters approved casinos to “stop” $500 million going across the river to Windsor, Canada, more people got hooked on gambling and gambling losses increased to $700 million.
  • Just one casino in Omaha would increase gambling losses in Omaha by 66% and add $132 million in social costs while Nebraskans will continue to gamble in Iowa, according to a 2002 Omaha Chamber of Commerce study.

Protect our constitution. Protect Nebraska’s Good Life.

Vote NO on 429, 430 & 431

Protect Nebraska’s Constitution — Protect the Good Life

Protect Nebraska’s Constitution
Protect the Good Life

Vote “NO” on #429, #430, #431

Voters will be asked to amend Nebraska’s constitution to legalize all forms of gambling on the 2020 ballot. If approved, casinos could be built not only at racetracks, but anywhere Native American tribes own land in Nebraska—whether at a racetrack or not—permitting casinos to be built across the entire state.

1. Casino Gambling Will NOT Provide Property Tax Relief

Casino gambling creates economic and social costs that ruin lives, families, businesses, and communities. But gambling operators don’t pay for these harms. Taxpayers do.

  • More gambling = higher taxes. For every $1 of gambling revenue the state must spend $3 on social costs.
  • A 2019 study by prominent Creighton University economics professor Dr. Ernie Goss concluded casino states tax their citizens more heavily than states without casinos.
  • Iowa has raised taxes since gambling moved in. We call it the ABCs: Addiction. Bankruptcies. Crime.
  • Gambling interests claim “property tax relief” but cannot prove it. It’s a hoax.

2. Keep the Money in Nebraska is a Lie

“Slots in Nebraska will just drain more money out of the state,” says John E. Anderson, University of Nebraska Department of Economics.

  • In 1996, Michigan voters approved casinos to “stop” the $500 million going over the border to Ontario, Canada.  With the increase in gambling, now $700 million leaves the state.
  • In 2003, a study for the Omaha Chamber of Commerce concluded that just one, average size casino operating in Omaha  would increase gambling losses in the Omaha metro area by 66% and result in $132 million in social costs.
  • CEO Warren Buffett says, “There’s nothing getting developed. It’s a transfer of money…You don’t need more of  it”.

3. #429 Changes our Constitution to Legalize Limitless Forms of All Casino Gambling

  • Legalizing even one slot machine automatically allows Native American tribes to open as many casinos as they  want –  untaxed, unlimited, and greatly unregulated.
  • Changing our constitution will allow slot machines, the “crack-cocaine of gambling,” sports gambling, and full- blown casinos across Nebraska.

 “Fellow Nebraskans, we implore you to join us in protecting the integrity of the Constitution and the “good life” in this state by voting “no” on any and all proposed amendments to expand gambling in this state.”
– Tom Osborne & State Senator Ernie Chambers

Nebraska should not be for sale.

Don’t let gambling interests change our constitution and state forever to line their own pockets.

 Vote “NO” on #429, #430 & #431