The Nebraska Casino Dilemma

In case you don’t keep up with state law, gambling in Neb. has been illegal since the birth of the state. That may be changing soon as Republican legislative candidate, Janet Palmtag, is endorsing in-state casinos in her bid for a seat.

Nebraska has restricted most forms of gambling, including commercial casinos, racinos and poker. Proposals have been made to bring commercial casinos to the Cornhusker State, but none have been approved yet.

This is very exciting as most, but not all, gambling has been illegal. The legal forms of gambling are raffles and lotteries, while the illegal forms of gambling are literally anything else -- participating in sports betting, casinos and racinos could catch you a felony.

Palmtag may not be a gambler herself, but she has a lot of passion for the subject. 

"Only Janet Palmtag supports real property tax relief through casino gambling," her new campaign mailer proclaims. "It is time we take bold action for real tax relief. Let's keep the money in Nebraska!"

But honestly, this course of action may be the way to go. A huge amount of state revenue comes from the lottery. They sell nearly $180 million in tickets, and over $40 million of this goes directly into state programs.

Opening up other channels of taxable gambling revenue could lead to millions for state programs. Funneling gambling taxes into public education, medical programs and financial aid could lift lower income communities en masse into higher income communities.

That is if that is the course of action that happens. Palmtag’s opposition, Slama, who was appointed to Southeast Nebraska's District 1 seat in the nonpartisan Legislature by Gov. Pete Ricketts in 2019, held a commanding lead over Palmtag in results from last May's primary election. Palmtag was endorsed by former Gov. Dave Heineman, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, former congressman and former Omaha Mayor Hal Daub and former Secretary of State John Gale. But Slama has support from current Gov. Ricketts and the Nebraska Republican Party. Not to mention the Democratic opposition, who is trying to beat her out for a seat as well.

Basically, Palmtag has a fun gambling idea that she wants to get through. But she faces opposition from her own party as well as the opposing party. She has support from several power players in Nebraska politics, but that's about it.

Alexander Nesmith is a Junior

Communications Major from

Calhoun, Georgia