Constitutional amendment to permit an authorized gaming operator conducting sports wagering within a licensed racetrack enclosure to allow a sports wager to be placed by an individual located within the State of Nebraska at the time the individual places the sports wager by means of a mobile or electronic platform

Brief

What this bill does

If it passes, what actually changes?

This is a legislative resolution proposing a change to the Nebraska Constitution, which voters would decide. It would let racetrack sportsbooks take bets placed by phone.

• Amends Article III, section 24 of the Nebraska Constitution; Section 1 sets out the new wording.
• Adds to subsection (5): racetrack sports wagering operators may accept wagers by mobile or electronic platform.
• The platform must be offered by, or in partnership with, that authorized gaming operator.
• The person betting must be located inside Nebraska at the moment the wager is placed.
• Section 2 puts it on the November 2026 general election ballot, marked "For" or "Against."
• Reprints lottery splits: first $500,000 to the Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund, then 44.5%, 44.5%, 10%, 1%.

What it says it is for

Does it do what it claims?

The title matches what the text actually does. It describes the one operative change accurately, but leaves out several details a reader would want.

• Match: subsection (5) permits sports wagers by mobile or electronic platform, exactly as the title says.
• Match: the text requires the bettor "located inside the State of Nebraska," matching the title's condition.
• Match: the Section 2 ballot language repeats the title almost word for word.
• Omission: the title never says the platform must be operator-run or an operator partnership.
• Omission: the title does not mention that the vote occurs at the November 2026 general election.
• Omission: the title does not note that the resolution reprints all of Article III-24, including lottery allocations.

Where Scripture bears on it

What does the Bible say about this?

The question here is whether the state should let a wager be placed from anywhere in Nebraska rather than only inside a fence, and Scripture speaks both to chance and to who bears its cost. Proverbs 16:33 grants that what men treat as random is not outside God's hand: "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD." Amos 8:6 turns from the chance to the traffic and indicts those who make their gain from people who can least afford it, asking after those who say "That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?" Neither verse settles what a Nebraska voter must decide in November 2026. Proverbs 16:33 describes the lot as a means of decision under providence, not commercial wagering for profit, and it neither forbids nor licenses the practice; Amos 8:6 condemns merchants who make merchandise of the needy but says nothing about whether a mobile platform does more of that than a racetrack window. Neither touches geolocation, licensing, tax rates, or whether a permission like this belongs in a constitution or in a statute.

The case each way

What is the strongest argument for, and against?

The disagreement is whether letting racetrack sportsbooks take phone bets is a modest update or a real expansion of gambling.

• For: Nebraskans already bet on sports by phone; this routes them to state-licensed operators.
• For: the permission is narrow, covering only licensed racetrack-enclosure operators and only bettors inside Nebraska.
• For: voters decide it in November 2026 rather than the Legislature deciding alone.
• Against: a phone in every pocket is far easier to reach than a racetrack.
• Against: the text adds no problem-gambling money; Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund transfers come only from lottery proceeds.
• Against: writing the permission into the constitution makes it hard to undo later.

What is unsettled

What should I be careful about?

This reading covers only the words in the resolution. Most of how mobile betting would actually work is left to laws written later.

• No tax rate, revenue estimate, or fiscal note for sports wagering appears in the text.
• "Authorized gaming operator," "in partnership with," and "mobile or electronic platform" are not defined here.
• The text names no agency and no method for verifying that a bettor is inside Nebraska.
• No age limit, advertising rule, or self-exclusion provision appears anywhere in the resolution.
• Printed without strike-through or underline, so which words are newly added cannot be confirmed.
• Both legislative passage and voter approval are required; neither is settled by this text.

Text (1)

• Introduced (application/pdf)

Each link opens the Legislature's own document. The text itself is not in our database yet (fetched lazily); when it lands these pages will carry it verbatim.

All Actions (21)

Votes (1)

Every roll call as the Legislature recorded it, with each member's vote by name.

Sponsors (4)

• Sen. Eliot Bostar [District 29] — primary sponsor
• Sen. Tom Brandt [District 32]
• Sen. Danielle Conrad [District 46]
• Sen. Jason Prokop [District 27]

Amendments (0)

There are no amendments to this bill.

Fiscal Notes & Statements (3)

• Committee Statement — Committee Statement
• Statement of Intent — Statement of Intent
• Document — von Gillern MO166 (withdrawn)

The Legislature's own companion documents; each link opens the official copy.

Committees (1)

Related Bills (0)

No related bill information was received for LR20CA.