Keep the Money in Nebraska, a group supporting non-tribal casino gambling at horse racetracks, recently announced it has raised more than .1 million in contributions and expects to meet the July 7 deadline with enough signatures to have the issue placed on the November ballot.
Spokesman Scott Lautenbaugh said, “We’re supremely confident we’ll gather a sufficient number of signatures but we’re going to keep running as if we’re behind. People understand our message and they’re tired of the status quo.” He added the response to date has been “more positive than we ever dared to hope.” Lautenbaugh said the petition drive will continue up until the deadline at concerts, sporting events and other public gatherings.
The petition would place three separate ballot questions before voters. One would amend the state constitution to allow games of chance at licensed racetracks. The other two would change state law to specify where casinos can be located, how they’re regulated and how the tax revenue is distributed.
To reach the ballot, petitions require valid signatures from 10 percent of the state’s registered voters, or about 113,900 people. The proposed law changes each require 7 percent of voters, or about 79,700 signatures. In addition, signatures are required from at least 5 percent of registered voters in a minimum of 38 counties.
Lautenbaugh said through a 20 percent tax on revenue, casino gambling would generate up to $100 million annually. Three-quarters of the funds would go to the state and the rest would go to the host community’s local government, helping to finance bridges, roads, schools and property tax reductions.
Ho-Chunk Incorporated, the economic arm of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, is the primary backer of the Keep the Money in Nebraska group. The tribe owns and operates the WinnaVegas Casino Resort in Sloan, Iowa and wants to open a new casino at the shuttered Atokad Downs in South Sioux City. Ho-Chunk President and Chief Operating Officer Lance Morgan said the casino would help the tribe regain some of the market share it lost after the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino opened in Sioux City, Iowa, in 2014. In addition, Morgan said legal non-tribal casinos would help Nebraska keep casino gambling money in the state, provide economic benefits and create jobs.
Morgan also noted Nebraska hosts four Indian casinos including the Ohiya Casino and Resort in Niobrara, and “the sky has not fallen. The sun still rises. Nobody has died.”
The opposition group, Gambling with the Good Life, admits the issue probably will end up on the ballot. Executive Director Pat Loontjer said the group had raised $12,650 as of May 27. “We don’t have the large amounts of money that some of the gambling proponents have, but we do have good information to give to Nebraskans,” said the Reverend Al Riskowski, executive director of the Nebraska Family Alliance.
His organization is part of a coalition of churches, business leaders and concerned citizens Gambling with the Good Life is bringing together to urge voters to reject the proposal. Loontjer said two of the state’s three Catholic dioceses and Methodist and Jewish groups have said they will participate. “Basically, every church in Nebraska will get the word out to vote no,” Loontjer said. The campaign will include stories about how gambling addiction ruined people’s lives, she said. Loontjer added the group also has support from Governor Pete Ricketts, former Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne and former congressman and Omaha Mayor Hal Daub.
“Gambling with the Good Life always talks about the good life. Well, we’re not satisfied with good. We want to make Nebraska great again,” Morgan said.
In 2013, Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission figures show Nebraska residents generated nearly $327 million in gross revenue for Iowa casinos.
Keno, horse racing and a lottery are legal but voters have rejected video gambling machines.
