Nebraska has cleared two online sports betting measures for the November general-election ballot, after Secretary of State Bob Evnen’s office certified that each petition had enough valid signatures to qualify.
The decision puts both Tax Relief Nebraska proposals before voters: a constitutional amendment to authorize online sports wagering and a companion initiative to build the tax and regulatory structure around it. The office said the amendment had at least 138,473 valid signatures from 64 counties, while the regulatory measure had at least 96,918 valid signatures from 55 counties.
As reported on Aug. 19, Tax Relief Nebraska had already said it believed it had enough valid signatures to get both measures on the ballot. The group had submitted more than 201,000 signatures for the amendment and 146,000 for the regulatory petition in late June, comfortably above the roughly 126,000 and 88,000 signatures required.
The proposals would change how sports betting works in the state. At present, betting is legal only in person at one of Nebraska’s five racetrack casinos, which generated about $9.3 million in sports betting revenue last year and less than $2 million in tax revenue, according to the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission.
The constitutional amendment would revise Article III, Section 24 of the state constitution, the same section voters changed in 2020 to legalize gambling and casinos at licensed racetracks. The companion measure would amend three existing state laws to define and regulate online sports betting for a person in Nebraska at the time of the wager, require wager servers to be located inside the state and limit operators to no more than two platforms at once.
Supporters have said the change could generate more than $30 million a year in gaming taxes from sports betting alone. The regulatory measure would direct 70% of those tax proceeds to property tax relief.
Opponents have argued that online betting is more addictive and would deepen problem gambling, making the revenue gain not worth the social cost. The petitions also drew scrutiny after a national group asked the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission to look into possible international influence in Tax Relief Nebraska’s funding, following more than $3.5 million in combined donations from FanDuel and Roar Digital.
The certification came amid a broader review of Nebraska’s 2026 ballot-signature efforts after fraudulent signatures were discovered in earlier petition drives. County and state election officials were still verifying two other statewide constitutional amendments, and the Secretary of State’s office said it had until Sept. 11 to finish that work.
After certification, Evnen said his office will hold public hearings in each of Nebraska’s three congressional districts, with the dates and locations still to be determined.
