Nebraska’s Online Sports Betting Petition Under Investigation

Another significant hurdle has arisen in the fight to legalize online sports betting in the Cornhusker State.

Earlier this month, the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office announced a statewide investigation into all four of the state’s petitions ahead of November’s midterm elections. It claimed to have found thousands of fraudulent signatures while reviewing the petitions. One of those petitions involved the legalization of online sports betting.

On August 7, Secretary of State Bob Evnen announced the arrest of five petitioners, who were charged with felony election fraud. He also expressed frustration with the state’s current petition process.

"The Lancaster County Sheriff's office today announced the arrests across the country of five petition circulators who will be charged with felony election fraud in Nebraska,” Evnen shared in a statement. “The time has come to address the persistent problems with Nebraska's election petition signature collection process. I will be working on legislation to bring order to this chaos. I agree with the Governor that the per-signature payment of petition circulators should be prohibited.”

The Office ruled on two of the petitions in question, with one failing after it only validated 3,358 of its 5,765 signatures. That is a significant gap, signaling the sports betting petition could face a similar ruling.

Tax Relief Nebraska, the group behind the petition, has shared its confidence that it will still be approved.

Second Petition Could Affect Sports Betting

While only one of the two remaining petitions directly involves sports betting, the other could have a significant impact on the future of the industry.

The second petition, pending investigation, would make it far harder for lawmakers to change laws created through the petition process. This would protect those efforts, ensuring the state legislature can’t alter a petition once it is approved by voters.

If the effort fails, it would allow state lawmakers to amend or severely restrict the online sports betting proposal from Tax Relief Nebraska. Considering that state lawmakers have failed to support legalizing the industry, it could create several more hurdles to prevent the petition from ever taking effect.