The Nebraska legislature’s General Affairs Committee recently advanced a bill to allow casinos in the six Nebraska counties with licensed horseracing tracks: Douglas, Lancaster, Adams, Dakota, Hall and Platte, all in eastern and central Nebraska. The bill now moves to the full legislature.
According to the measure, operators wishing to develop a casino elsewhere in the state would have to wait for the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission to conduct a detailed study on the potential impact on the state, which would be due by January 1, 2025.
State Senator Tom Briese, committee chairman, said the measure strikes a balance with developers and communities that want to build casinos on one side, and gambling opponents concerned about casino saturation in the state. Previous proposals put specific limits on the number of casinos and the distance between locations. “I think we’ve truly reached a middle ground on this,” Briese said.
