DraftKings and FanDuel Put $7m Behind Nebraska's Ballot as Tom Osborne Says No

Two measures on the 3 November ballot would legalise online sports betting tethered to the state's racetracks at a 20% tax, with 70% of the state's take earmarked for property-tax relief that works out at between $5 and $16 a homeowner. The opposition is the most famous man in the state, a Huskers assistant coach quoting scripture, the state auditor and the treasurer. The initiative survived a signature-fraud inquiry to get there.

• A constitutional amendment and an initiative backed by DraftKings and FanDuel were approved in late August for Nebraska's 3 November ballot; the two companies have contributed more than $7 million to "Tax Relief Nebraska", the campaign supporting them, InGame reports
• The package would allow statewide online sports betting through platforms tethered to the state's horse racing facilities, up to two online partners per facility, a 20% tax rate, no betting on college games played in Nebraska, and rules from the regulator by 1 June 2027; it was approved despite an investigation into signature-gathering fraud
• Tom Osborne, 89, the former Huskers coach and congressman who fronted the "no" side of the 2020 casino vote, said in a statement this month that "putting a sportsbook on every phone will only increase that pressure and expose more young people to gambling addiction. That is not sportsmanship, that is not healthy competition, and it is not the Nebraska way"
• At a 10 September press conference the Huskers assistant coach Ron Brown likened the consequences of online betting to "the bloody rats" a cat drags in; State Auditor Mike Foley, State Treasurer Joey Spellerberg and the Nebraska Family Alliance's Nate Grasz also spoke against, under the "Save Nebraska Sports" banner
• Seventy per cent of the state's sports betting revenue would go to property-tax relief; a 2025 fiscal note projected $9.2 million in the first year and $20.4 million by 2029, proponents say about $30 million, which across 1.34 million homeowners is a credit of roughly $5.22 to $15.67 each, InGame calculates

Two Measures, Six Bordering States and One Coach

Nebraska's voters will decide in November whether to legalise online sports betting, after the state legislature declined to do so in 2024 and 2025 and commercial operators took the question to the ballot. A constitutional amendment and an accompanying initiative, sponsored principally by DraftKings and FanDuel, were approved for the 3 November ballot in late August, InGame reports. The two companies have put more than $7 million into Tax Relief Nebraska, the campaign supporting the measures. The package would allow statewide online wagering through platforms tethered to the state's licensed horse racing facilities, with each facility permitted up to two online partners, a 20% tax, a ban on betting on college games played in Nebraska (as already applies to retail wagering), and a requirement that the gaming regulator issue rules by 1 June 2027. Approval came despite an investigation into fraud in the signature-gathering campaign.

All six of Nebraska's neighbours offer some form of legal sports betting, and five of them, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Wyoming, have regulated mobile wagering; Nebraskans cross state lines routinely to bet on the Cornhuskers. In-person betting followed a 2020 ballot measure that opened casinos at the state's racetracks, the "no" campaign for which was fronted by Tom Osborne, the former Huskers head coach and three-term congressman who is the most recognisable figure in the state. He is 89 now and less visible, but his statement this month left no doubt: "Putting a sportsbook on every phone will only increase that pressure and expose more young people to gambling addiction. That is not sportsmanship, that is not healthy competition, and it is not the Nebraska way."

The Campaign Against, and the Arithmetic For

The opposition organised as Save Nebraska Sports, a coalition InGame describes as mostly religious anti-gambling figures, held a press conference on 10 September. Ron Brown, an assistant coach on this season's Huskers staff who said he represented no one but "my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and God's word of the bible", compared online betting to what the family cat dragged in when he was young, "often a bloody rat", and said "the sharp claws of these endeavors have sadly dragged in the filth and disease of greed". State Auditor Mike Foley said Nebraskans were being "scammed" and promised to travel the state against the measure; State Treasurer Joey Spellerberg and Nate Grasz of the Nebraska Family Alliance, who read Osborne's statement, also spoke. The coalition's line is that online betting would put "a casino in every Nebraskan's pocket" and send the money to out-of-state operators, meaning DraftKings and FanDuel.

The proponents' pitch is property tax. Seventy per cent of the state's sports betting revenue would be earmarked for relief, and polling support rises when that is mentioned, InGame reports. The numbers are modest. A 2025 fiscal note for a legislative bill with the same 20% rate projected $9.2 million in the first year and $20.4 million by 2029; proponents cite about $30 million. Nebraska has about two million residents, of whom about 1.34 million own their homes, so $10 million in state revenue is a credit of about $5.22 per homeowner and $30 million about $15.67. Since 2018, voters in seven states have legalised some form of wagering at the ballot box, two of them narrowly: Missouri's 2024 initiative passed by 2,961 votes. California's Proposition 27 in 2022 lost with 82% against, the worst initiative defeat in the state's history.

The Operators Bought a Ballot Line; the Coach Owns the Argument

Seven million dollars buys signatures, advertising and a campaign name with "tax relief" in it. It does not buy Tom Osborne, and in Nebraska Osborne is closer to a civic institution than a spokesman. The 2020 casino measure passed over his objection because it promised jobs and kept the money in the state's racetracks. This one asks voters to send a share of every wager to Boston and New York and to trust that a $5 property-tax credit is worth it. The "out-of-state" line is the one the coalition will run on, and it is the one DraftKings and FanDuel have no good answer to, because it is true.

Missouri Is the Model, in Both Directions

Missouri in 2024 is the template the operators are following: a DraftKings-and-FanDuel-funded initiative, a property-tax or education hook, church-based opposition, and a win by 2,961 votes. Nebraska has the same sponsors, the same opposition and a smaller, older, more rural electorate. The operators' Missouri experience says it can be done; it also says it can be done by less than a rounding error, and Missouri did not have Tom Osborne.

The Fiscal Note Is the Opposition's Best Exhibit

Proponents chose to sell the measure on property tax, and the state's own projection says the relief is $5 a year per homeowner. That number will appear in every opposition mailer between now and November, and it is not a number the operators can rebut without conceding that the point of the measure is not tax relief but market access. In Colorado and Missouri the margin was thin with a better pitch. Nebraska's pitch may be the weakest an operator-led campaign has run, and the vote will show whether the product now sells itself.

Nebraska's neighbours all have it. Nebraska's coach says it is not the Nebraska way. In November the state finds out which it believes.