Nebraska Voters Reject Online Sports Betting Initiative
Mike Goodpaster Published 05/11/2026
Two referendums on the ballot in Nebraska during Tuesday's midterm elections that were designed to legalize online sports betting both failed to get enough votes to pass. Initiative 440 called for a constitutional amendment to authorize online sports gambling. It was defeated by a 54.9% to 45.1% margin. Initiative 441 was a proposal to create a regulatory framework and tax structure for mobile sports wagering. It was defeated 54.5% to 45.5%.
Several of the major U.S. sports betting operators were significant financial backers of Tex Relief Nebraska, which was driving the movement to get the initiatives passed. The selling point was that revenue from online sports betting would be used to bring down the cost of property taxes in the Cornhusker State.
Nebraska voters didn't buy the tax-relief angle
State treasurer Joey Spellerberg was one of the more prominent Nebraska figures who were campaigning against the legalization of online sports betting. He felt the property-tax relief angle being pushed by Tax Relief Nebraska simply didn't resonate with voters. “Voters in Nebraska looked right past that,” Spellerberg told Nebraska TV station First Alert 6.
Opponents of online sports betting legalization trumpeted their victory at the ballot box as a David vs. Goliath story. Backed by the major sports betting operators, Tax Relief Nebraska outspent opponents of the initiatives at a 20-1 rate.
“We were being sold a bill of goods about the online sports betting,” re-elected Nebraska Republican Senator Pete Ricketts said. “We were not going to get property tax relief. That was a lie.
"Nebraska saw right through it, and that’s why those ballot issues went down.”
Another opponent of legalizing online sports betting was Nate Grasz. He's the executive director of the Nebraska Family Alliance.
Grasz praised Nebraskans for putting the well-being of the state's people ahead of commercial interests.
“Nebraskans stood up to powerful gambling corporations with seemingly limitless resources and refused to let them buy their way into our state,” Grasz said in a statement.
Grasz indicated that voters “chose to protect kids, families, and student athletes from predatory online gambling.”
Tax Relief Nebraska was a big spender
In the lead-up to election day, lobby group Tax Relief Nebraska spent heavily to spread a message to the masses about the advantages the state would gain from the legalization of online and mobile sports betting. Estimates are that the group's total spend was $22 million.
Major US online sports betting sites donated more than $14.5 million to organizations that were spreading the message of sports betting legalization to the public.
Campaign finance filings displayed that four online sports betting sites contributed nearly $18 million to Tax Relief Nebraska.
DraftKings was leading the way. The online sportsbook contributed $9.5375 million. Running a close second was FanDuel. That sports betting site gave $7.0375 million. Fanatics and BetMGM each contributed $500,000.
Petitions led to the placing of these initiatives on the ballot
Over the early months of 2026, pro-sports betting forces work tirelessly to gain enough signatures on petitions to get both of these initiatives on the 2026 midterm election ballot.
Proponents of legalizing online sports betting pointed out that Nebraskans were betting online through illegal offshore sites, or leaving the state to gamble. These measures would've kept that revenue in the state coffers, they argued.
Nebraska voted to legalize in-person retail sports betting in 2020. The first retail sportsbooks opened up in the state in 2023.
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