Sports betting at Nebraska racetracks could launch next month after a key administrative hurdle was cleared Friday.
Members of the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission approved the master list of sports on which people will be allowed to bet.
The list is called the “Sports Wagering Catalog.” It includes popular leagues like the NFL and NBA, but also some more niche sports like collegiate water polo, pro rodeo and the World Surf League.
The list is quite detailed, for instance, not just listing Major League Baseball, but also specifying that gambling will be allowed on spring training, the regular season, postseason, All-Star Game, All-Star Game Home Run Derby, and All-Star Game MVP.
Approval of the list was a “critical step” for sports betting, commission Chair Dennis Lee said.
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“This is the last piece of the puzzle for the gaming operators to proceed with sports wagering,” he said.
No online sports betting is allowed in Nebraska. Any sports bet must be placed in person or at a wagering kiosk in the designated sports gambling area at a licensed racetrack.
As for college football, the list includes NCAA Division I football regular season, bowl games and the national championship.
But Nebraska state law prohibits wagering on an in-state collegiate sporting event in which an in-state college or university team is a participant.
So no betting on the Cornhusker football team when it plays at Memorial Stadium or on a Creighton University team when it plays at home.
“The Legislature essentially tells us what authority we have and we don’t have, and right now we have no authority to permit a sports-wagering facility in Nebraska to accept wagers on any college sport when that college sport is played in Nebraska,” Lee said.
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State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln introduced a bill this year to remove that restriction, so far without success. There is no restriction, however, on Nebraskans placing a bet on those Nebraska-based college teams when they play out of state, Lee said.
Tom Sage, the commission’s executive director, said the Sports Wagering Catalog is a starting point that is likely to grow as new< sports are added. Sage said the staff reviewed the
catalogs of a number of states that allow betting on sports.
The Nebraska catalog was modeled on Wyoming’s, he said, but the Nebraska version doesn’t include all the sports.
“There’s lots of sports out there that people are betting on right now,” he said. “Here we felt it was better to start out slower with less wagering types, with less product to bet on.”
Gambling operators will be allowed to petition the commission to add sports. To be considered, he said, sports must have a regulatory body.
“Let’s say they wanted to add snooker,” he said.
“They could add it. They would have to give us who regulates it, what kind of wagers, all that kind of information.”
Each sport on the Nebraska list has a regulatory body. For instance, the Master’s Golf tournament is regulated by the Augusta National Golf Club. The regulatory body for Xtreme Bronc Finals is the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.
“There has to be a sports regulatory body like the NCAA, like the NFL, that type of thing. That’s the way our statute is written,” he said.
With the catalog now in the hands of the gambling operators, the first betting could start next month.
Lynne McNally, chief executive officer of the Nebraska horsemen’s association, said she expects the War Horse Casino and Racetrack in Lincoln to be the first location in Nebraska to go live with sports wagering.
“We are hoping to get permission to go live next month in Lincoln, so this provides a generous variety of things that we can offer,” McNally said.
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