New efforts to bring casinos to Nebraska arise

A local tribe has partnered with a horse racing association to push for a referendum that would authorise casinos in the state.

US.- The gambling industry in the United States has been taken over by sports betting as several states have already passed their own legislation to authorise it and many others are considering doing the same thing. However, Nebraska is debating a different topic: bringing casinos to the state.

According to local media, the Winnebago Indians’ Ho Chunk will establish a partnership with the Benevolent and Protective Horsemen’s Association to push for gambling to be allowed at state racetracks. Their plan is to begin a petition campaign to get the government to issue a referendum in 2020 and let voters decide whether they’d like gambling to be allowed.

Since both parties estimate that around US$500 million are spent by Nebraskans in neighboring states, it is expected that the referendum would be approved. Should that be the case, gambling would be allowed and brought to racetracks in Sioux City, Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island and perhaps Hastings, the Sioux City Journal reported.

Back in 2015-16, a similar effort fell short by 40,000 signatures and the referendum was never approved. However, this time supporters expect the process to be simplified in order to make it easy to gather the signatures, while the campaign has already received interest from possible sponsors, Ho Chunk CEO Lance Morgan said.