Legal Nebraska Betting Sites

21+ and present in Nebraska. T&Cs apply. Gambling problem? 1-833-BETOVER or visit problemgambling.nebraska.gov.

Nebraska Sports Betting Overview

Legal sports betting is up and running in Nebraska.

WarHorse Casino in Lincoln opened the state’s first retail sportsbook, followed by Elite Sportsbook at Grand Island Casino Resort. Nebraska voters approved casinos at the state’s six race tracks in 2020, and each has announced plans to build a casino. As those plans materialize, fans can expect up to four more retail sportsbooks to open over time.

Nebraska sportsbooks may accept wagers from guests 21 or older via automated teller machines or at staffed betting windows. Online sports betting is not yet legal, so fans must place all wagers in-person at licensed sportsbooks in Nebraska.

Here are the main things fans need to know about betting on sports in Nebraska:

• Nebraska sportsbooks may accept wagers on professional, collegiate, and international sports plus esports
• Sportsbooks may not offer wagers on games involving Nebraska colleges
• Casino guests must be 21 or older to bet on sports in Nebraska
• Online and mobile betting is not authorized

Nebraska Sportsbooks

Two retail sportsbooks in Nebraska are now open, and up to four more are on the way. Some race tracks may begin taking wagers at temporary facilities while they build add-on casinos, but others have stated they won’t have enough room to offer sports betting until they complete construction on their casinos.

As additional Nebraska sportsbooks open, BettingUSA will update this page with the latest updates.

• Now Open: WarHorse Casino Sportsbook in Lincoln
• Now Open: Elite Sportsbook at Grand Island Casino Sportsbook in Grand Island
• Planned for 2024: Caesars Sportsbook at Harrah’s Columbus
• Planned for 2024: Sportsbook at WarHorse Casino Omaha
• Planned for 2024: WarHorse Casino Atokad in South Sioux City
• Proposed: Sportsbook at Lake Mac Casino Resort in Ogallala

Nebraska sports betting law permits sportsbooks at casinos and race tracks, but it is unclear if tribal casinos will get in on the action. Typically, when states approve sports betting at commercial casinos, tribal operators also gain the option to open sportsbooks.

It took more than two years from the time Nebraska legalized sports betting to the state’s first sportsbook opening to the public because much had to happen during the interim, including the construction of casinos where sportsbooks may be located.

Nebraska voters authorized commercial casinos at race tracks in November 2020, which initiated the long process of race tracks partnering with gambling operators, constructing casinos, building sportsbooks, and receiving all necessary approvals from the Racing & Gaming Commission. The first casino wasn’t even finished when Nebraska legalized sports betting, hence the long wait between the passage of the law and the state booking its first legal sports wager.

Nebraska Sports Betting Apps

Online sports betting is not in the cards for Nebraska, at least over the short term. The Nebraska sports betting bill initially included provisions authorizing online sportsbooks, but lawmakers stripped the bill of those provisions to get the votes they needed to pass the legislation. Future Nebraska online sports betting efforts will likely require additional legislation and the support of lawmakers who have previously opposed such measures.

The lack of online sportsbooks in Nebraska will result in the state collecting less sports betting revenue. In states with legal online sportsbooks, mobile sports betting accounts for 80-90% of the total handle. Still, the approval of retail sportsbooks in Nebraska is an essential first step for a state that was hesitant to legalize sports wagering.

Nebraska Sports Betting Law

Sports betting in Nebraska was legalized in two phases. First, voters approved casinos at race tracks through a referendum in November 2020.

At the time, it was unclear if the referendum would result in legal sports betting because it simply authorized casinos to offer “games of chance.” However, the legislature answered that question in May 2021 by passing LB 561, allowing sports betting at racetrack casinos (racinos) and placing the Nebraska Racing & Gaming Commission (NRGC) in charge of regulating sports wagering.

Governor Pete Ricketts signed the Nebraska sports betting bill into law on May 25^th, 2021.

In October 2022, the NRGC approved additional regulations needed execute the Commission’s policy of ensuring “all industry participants conduct sports wagering in a manner suitable to protect the public health, safety, morals, good order, and general welfare of the state.”

Nebraska sports betting regulations authorize licensed sportsbooks to accept wagers via the following methods:

• Staffed teller windows
• Self-serve betting kiosks
• Alternate means approved by the NRGC

Bettors in Nebraska may place wagers using the following payment methods:

• Cash, vouchers, and cash equivalents
• Debit cards
• Casino chips
• Funds in players’ casino accounts
• Bonuses and promotional credits
• Any other methods approved by the NRGC

Sportsbooks in Nebraska may accept wagers on the following categories of sports events:

• Professional and college sports
• International sporting events
• Professional motor races
• Esports
• Simulated games
• Professional sports drafts
• Individual sports awards
• Other events approved by the NRGC

In addition, licensed Nebraska sportsbooks may offer the following types of wagers:

• Straight bets
• Exchange wagering
• In-play betting
• Parlay bets
• Prop bets
• Other types of wagers approved by the NRGC

Nebraska Daily Fantasy Sports

For as long as online sports betting remains illegal in Nebraska, daily fantasy sports apps will remain the next closest alternative for residents.

The availability of daily fantasy sports sites in Nebraska hinges on an interpretation of existing law that views DFS games as contests of chance and exempt from state anti-gambling laws. No one has tested the interpretation in court, but authorities have also declined to push the issue. As a result, all major DFS sites accept players from Nebraska.

Lawmakers have made several attempts to legalize daily fantasy sports in Nebraska but have been unable to get anything to stick. LB 469 in 2017, LB 137 in 2019, and LB 990 in 2020 all sought to legalize fantasy sports and enact basic regulations, but all failed to advance.

All three bills failed for various reasons, including disagreements among lawmakers over licensing fees and tax rates and pressure from anti-gambling groups. The Nebraska Family Alliance has strongly objected to legalization, at one point stating, “fantasy sports gambling is simply an online casino under the guide of fantasy football.

Fantasy sports operators remain active in Nebraska and have faced no action from the state to date but will continue to operate in an uncertain legal environment until lawmakers pass DFS legislation.

Nebraska Horse Racing Betting

Nebraska permits pari-mutuel horse racing betting at licensed race tracks.

Racetracks may offer simulcast horse racing betting, but state law does not address the legality of off-track betting facilities (OTBs) and advance deposit wagering (ADW). Nevertheless, multiple ADW providers offer online horse racing betting in Nebraska.

The Nebraska State Racing & Gaming Commission regulates all racing activity in the state. The Commission’s duties include licensing race tracks, approving racing events, ensuring fairness, and monitoring tracks, teams, and handlers.

Live Nebraska Racetracks

Even though horse racing betting is legal in Nebraska, the options for betting on horses are limited. The state’s six race tracks host only a few days of live racing each year as required by state law to offer simulcasting wagering of live events the rest of the year.

However, the Nebraska horse racing industry will likely expand due to tracks receiving the OK to build full-fledged casino resorts. Lynne McNally, the executive vice president of the Nebraska HBPA, speculated that race tracks could double the number of racing days they hold each year once their casinos begin producing new revenues.

Nebraska Online Gambling

Nebraska gambling laws do not specifically mention online gambling, but they employ broad language that prohibits anything not authorized by the legislature and via constitutional amendment.

The Nebraska Constitution serves as the legal basis for which forms of gambling are legal and prohibited. Article III-24 states:

(1) Except as provided in this section, the Legislature shall not authorize any game of chance or any lottery or gift enterprise when the consideration for a chance to participate involves the payment of money for the purchase of property, services, or a chance or admission ticket or requires an expenditure of substantial effort or time.

(2) The Legislature may authorize and regulate a state lottery pursuant to subsection (3) of this section and other lotteries, raffles, and gift enterprises which are intended solely as business promotions or the proceeds of which are to be used solely for charitable or community betterment purposes without profit to the promoter of such lotteries, raffles, or gift enterprises.

The legislature has amended the constitution several times to permit certain forms of gambling, including pari-mutuel horse racing betting, charitable bingo, the state lottery, and racinos.

If Nebraska legalizes online casinos or poker sites, it will do so only after a successful constitutional amendment.

The most recent effort to authorize online poker came in the form of LB 990, a bill that also sought to allow sports betting and formally legalize daily fantasy sports by treating all as games of skill rather than gambling.

Senator Ty Larson mounted a similar effort in 2015 with a bill that would have classified poker as a contest of skill. He put up a strong argument for doing so when he made this point:

You can be a professional poker player; you cannot be a professional coin flipper. You can lose a poker game on purpose; you can’t lose a coin flip on purpose. You can have the worst hand in poker but be the best player.

The math is there; the statistics are there. Poker is a game of skill; it is not a game of chance.

Pro-gaming lawmakers continue to support legalizing online poker in Nebraska to this day, but their odds of success remain uncertain at this point. As for online gambling in Nebraska, there are currently no efforts underway to change the state’s current prohibition of online casinos.

Nebraska Online Lottery

The Nebraska Lottery was established in 1993 and has raised more than $818 million for charitable initiatives since. About one-quarter of all lottery sales end up benefitting the state’s environmental trust, education, the Nebraska state fair, and compulsive gambling assistance.

Players 19 or older can buy Nebraska Lottery tickets online through the Jackpocket lottery app or website. The Nebraska Lottery does not sell tickets online, but residents can sign up for Jackpocket accounts to play Nebraska Lottery draw games online safely and legally.

The Jackpocket Nebraska app offers tickets to Powerball, Mega Millions, Lucky For Life, Pick 3, and Pick 5 for players located anywhere in the state. Nebraska Lottery players who win up to $500 receive instant payouts to their Jackpocket accounts, while those who win more than $500 receive their winning tickets from Jackpot to claim their prizes directly from the NE Lottery.

Nebraska Gambling Law

State law defines gambling as an activity that includes the three elements of consideration, risk, and reward. Consideration means someone pays something of value to participate. Chance means the outcome of the game is not dependent entirely upon skill. Reward means there is an opportunity to win something.

Wagering outside of an authorized casino or sportsbook is only legal in Nebraska when at least one of those three elements is missing from the equation. For example, a poker tournament that awards prizes to the players but is free to enter still contains chance and reward but includes no consideration (because it’s free to play). As a result, the tournament in question would be legal under state law.

Any contest that costs money to enter must remove one of the other two elements: chance or reward. A player could pay money to join a charity poker tournament if there was no chance of winning a prize, for example.

The only forms of legal gambling are defined by NE Code § 28-1101. Racetrack casinos, sportsbooks at casinos, licensed charity bingo games, the state lottery, charity raffles, and charity lotteries were all authorized in Nebraska via constitutional amendments.

Nebraska amended its constitution in 1934 to legalize horse racing betting at licensed parimutuel race tracks. The state constitution was amended again in 1988 to permit local race tracks to simulcast and accept wagers on horse racing events hosted outside the state.

Regarding unauthorized gambling, state law provides penalties for those who promote or advance unlawful gambling activities.

NE Code § 28-1103 treats promoting illegal gambling, engaging in unauthorized bookmaking, or betting something of value as Class III misdemeanors with the following:

(a) Engaging in bookmaking to the extent that he or she receives or accepts in any one day one or more bets totaling less than one thousand five hundred dollars;

(b) Receiving, in connection with any unlawful gambling scheme or enterprise, less than one thousand five hundred dollars of money played in the scheme or enterprise in any one day; or

(c) Betting something of value in an amount of five hundred dollars or more with one or more persons in one day.

NE Code § 28-1102 steps up the penalties if the money involved totals $1,500 or more in one day. The first offense is a Class I misdemeanor, followed by a Class IV felony for the second offense and a Class III felony for all further offenses.

Even low-stakes gamblers do not fare well under Nebraska law. NE Code § 28-1104 states:

(1) A person commits the offense of promoting gambling in the third degree if he or she knowingly participates in unlawful gambling as a player by betting less than five hundred dollars in any one day.

(2) Promoting gambling in the third degree is a Class IV misdemeanor.

Nebraska Sports Betting FAQ

Related: Caesars Building Racino and Sportsbook in Nebraska