New Nebraska bill would impose minimum 50-mile radius between casinos

After the voting in 2020, Nebraska has slowly been approving regulations to create infrastructure for gambling to actually take place at statewide horse tracks. A new bill presented by State Senator Tom Briese intends to ban any horse track casino being placed within 50 miles from an existing one. 

Horsemen’s Park in Omaha is currently planning a $220 million renovation that would include a full casino and sportsbook. If a bill in the legislature gets approved when the lawmakers return, it could become the only casino in the metro area. 

“As of right now, there could be a casino on every I-80 interchange, or in every county seat. That’s a slight exaggeration but there could be many, many casinos across the state”, Briese told 3 News Now.

To John Hassett, head of Advanced Gaming Technologies, this new bill would drive money out of Nebraska. In July, he proposed to the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission a 5,000 seat, Bellvue horse-track casino called Belle Vue Downs. But if this new bill passes, the project will be canceled. 

Hassett is now part of the opposition, joined by Bellevue Mayor Rusty Hike, who says the city and Sarpy County could see around $5 million annually from gaming revenue and does not think the state’s third largest city and county should be left out of the process. 

“We would never want to limit Omaha from something just because we had the first one, and it goes vice-versa, and it goes for any county in Nebraska, really”, Hike said, as reported by 3 News Now. 

“Folks are asking for distances all over the board or no minimum, so I don’t think 50 miles is an unreasonable place to land on that. I believe it is consistent with Nebraska values, consistent in what I believe the voters would support”, Briese stated. 

To Hassett, as the racing and gaming commission can already approve and deny projects, this should be left up to them to make the decision, and not set an arbitrary 50-mile radius. 

The legislature will be back Wednesday and the bill would first need to be introduced, passed through a committee and passed through the legislature three times before Governor Ricketts could approve it. 

The date for the launch of legal bets in the state has not been confirmed yet. Executive Director of the Racing and Gaming Commission, Tom Sage, stated that they are still working on the regulations and technical work.