Gambling Bills in the Legislature

Is it too much to ask for “NO” expanded gambling bills in 2018? The answer apparently is “NO”!!

This is a “short” year for the Nebraska legislature, 60 days, ending on April 18th, 2018. They have lots of important bills to discuss including closing a huge deficit in the budget but somehow a few pro-gambling Senators found a way to squeeze in a few gambling bills.

Here is what we are facing:

LB 469 “Fantasy Sports Betting” was a carry over bill from last year. It was debated for 3 hours on January 17th and then the speaker “pulled it” off the agenda. The sponsor, Senator Larson now has to show that he has at least 30 votes in order to bring it back. I understand he is working on that but it is a hard hill to climb, thank goodness.

LR 269CA is a Constitutional amendment by Senator Schumacher to create a “Sovereign” city – 36 miles square in the middle of Nebraska. He claims it is not intended for casinos but we can’t trust him. We testified against the bill on January 31st and it is stalled in committee now. Please pray it stays there.

LR 294CA is another Constitutional amendment that Senator Larson is proposing. It would change our Constitution to allow all gambling related decision be made and managed by the Legislature. Currently that is left to the voters of the state. We testified on this on February 12th and currently it is in committee. Pray that it dies a happy death there.