Nebraska votes on online sports betting with $22.5m behind it

If both questions pass, Nebraska becomes the latest state to legalize online sports betting, with 70% of tax revenue routed to property tax relief. DraftKings and FanDuel have put $10.4m each into the campaign, and the rules are not due until 1 June 2027.

Two ballot questions, one deadline

Nebraska's ballot carries two separate initiatives on Tuesday, 3 November, and both have to pass.

One amends the state constitution to legalize online sports betting. The other writes the regulatory framework that would govern it. Both need approval before anything takes effect, Sports Betting Dime reported on 2 November. Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The same report describes the vote as the likely last chance for a state to legalize online sports betting in 2026, which explains where the operators' money has gone. Nebraska already runs an in-person sports betting market, and the amendment uses a similar tax disbursement structure.

The money behind the campaign

Tax Relief Nebraska received more than $22.5m in contributions from 28 July 2026 through 29 October 2026, according to Sports Betting Dime.

DraftKings and FanDuel gave $10.4m each, the two largest contributions to the committee. The money does not buy a licence outright. The referendum would let each licensed Nebraska gaming facility offer up to two online sports betting platforms. A facility could use its own technology or partner with a gaming company such as DraftKings or FanDuel. The constitutional amendment earmarks 70% of online sports betting tax revenue for a property tax credit fund, a disbursement structure similar to the state's in-person betting market.

What the market could be worth

Tax Relief Nebraska commissioned Eilers & Krejcik to model what the market would raise.

The firm projects $86.6m in gross gaming revenue in the first year of legal online sports betting, rising to about $163.1m by year five. Across those five years it estimates nearly $87m in online sports betting tax revenue: about $60.9m for property tax relief under the 70% allocation, $21.7m for the local share and $2.2m for a compulsive gambling fund. The projections take gross gaming revenue per adult from Kansas, Iowa, Kentucky and Wyoming. They are then adjusted for Nebraska-specific factors: disposable income, sports interest, internet access and a ban on betting involving Nebraska college teams.

The five-year tax estimate of nearly $87m is almost four times the $22.5m the industry put into the campaign, though the two figures measure different things: contributions against tax receipts spread over five years.

Scrutiny of app design

The vote lands while reporters and plaintiffs' lawyers are pressing the operators on how their apps treat heavy users.

ProPublica said on 26 September that it wants at least 250 people to upload their FanDuel or DraftKings betting histories so it can study when the apps offer boosts, invite users into VIP programs and push responsible gaming notices. The newsroom says it has not reached that number. It also says users have told it the companies can take more than 30 days to supply their own data, and its browser extension works only in Chrome and Firefox. Without that data, ProPublica says, there is no way to know how the companies operate.

Sokolove Law, which is recruiting plaintiffs for addiction cases, said in a page last updated on 30 October that the lawsuits allege apps track in-app behavior, assign personal VIP hosts and keep sending promotions to users who had flagged a gambling problem or tried to self-exclude.

The same page cites research in JAMA Internal Medicine finding that gambling disorder diagnoses rose 61% in states that legalized sports betting. It also describes a Pennsylvania case in which FanDuel VIP hosts allegedly sent a video message from baseball player Bryce Harper to a bettor who had wagered $18.5m and lost about $1.5m. Those are claims made in litigation, not established findings.

What happens next

If both initiatives pass, sports betting rules and regulations must be approved on or before 1 June 2027, according to Sports Betting Dime. Licensed gaming facilities could then run up to two online platforms each.

The rules would settle licensing fees and a launch date; the 70% property tax allocation is already written into the amendment.

Rhode Island gives a sense of scale. It legalized online sports betting in 2018, launched in September 2019 and still has one legal online sportsbook, Sporting News reported on 28 October. It also bans betting on college teams, a wider restriction than the Nebraska proposal's ban on bets involving Nebraska college teams. Nebraska's projected $86.6m first-year gross gaming revenue would be split across a market with more operators than Rhode Island's, though the college-team ban trims the product list from the start.