Nebraska Sports Betting

Sports betting is legal in Nebraska at retail sportsbooks for fans 21 or older.

Unfortunately, online sports betting remains prohibited in Nebraska, leaving horse racing betting sites and daily fantasy sports apps as the only forms of legal online betting in Nebraska.

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

Nebraska Sports Betting Overview

Legal Nebraska sports betting options consist of retail sportsbooks at licensed casinos.

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 Sports Betting Locations

Fans can bet on sports safely and legally at the following Nebraska sportsbooks:

Nebraska Sports Betting Apps

Sports betting apps are not yet legal in Nebraska. 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

Nebraska legalized sports betting 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 only 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 25th, 2021.

In October 2022, the NRGC approved additional regulations needed to 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.”

All told, it took more than two years from the time Nebraska legalized sports betting to the state’s first sportsbook opening to the public.

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:

Lawmakers began seriously discussing Nebraska sports betting in early 2020 following a bill by Senator Justin Wayne to classify sports betting, poker, and fantasy sports as games of skill.

The Nebraska Constitution prohibits the legislature from authorizing “any game of chance,” which makes any expansion of gambling a difficult proposition requiring a constitutional amendment, which in turn requires a public referendum.

Senator Wayne’s bill sought to bypass the need for a constitutional amendment by classifying the aforementioned activities as contests of skill and not subject to Nebraska’s broad gambling prohibition.

LB 990 explained its rationale for classifying sports betting and fantasy sports as contests of skill with the following:

Sports betting and fantasy sports require knowledge and skill. Knowledge of a sport and skill in analyzing and predicting the performance of athletes and the outcomes of sporting events is essential for a participant in sports betting or fantasy sports to be successful;

The bill was light on details but called for a $10,000 registration fee and a 6% annual renewal fee not to exceed $10,000. Under LB 990, the Charitable Gaming Division of the Department of Revenue would be responsible for licensing and oversight.

Nebraska sports betting legalization failed to make significant progress and was indefinitely postponed in August 2020, but the effort served as a starting point for the discussion.

Nebraska Daily Fantasy Sports

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Daily fantasy sports apps are the closest alternative to online sports betting in Nebraska.

Lawmakers introduce bills to regulate daily fantasy sports in Nebraska more years than not, but they have struggled to gain enough support to overcome the objections of lawmakers who believe legalization would violate the Nebraska Constitution.

Even so, all name brand DFS apps and websites are available in Nebraska because state law does not prohibit DFS contests. See BettingUSA’s Nebraska DFS guide for more:

Nebraska Horse Racing Betting

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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 advance deposit wagering (ADW).

Nevertheless, multiple ADW providers offer online horse racing betting in Nebraska.

See BettingUSA’s Nebraska horse racing betting guide for recommended online racebooks, racetrack locations, and industry updates:

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.

  • Fonner Park
  • Lincoln Race Course
  • Ag Park
  • Horsemens Park
  • Hastings Fairplay Park
  • Atokad Downs in South Sioux City

Nebraska Online Gambling

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Online casinos and poker sites are not legal in Nebraska, but Sweepstakes casinos offer casino-style games that are nearly the same thing.

Nebraska gambling laws do not specifically mention online gambling, but they include broad language prohibiting 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 gambling 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 gambling in Nebraska, but their odds of success remain uncertain.

Nebraska Online Lottery

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Players 19 or older can buy Nebraska Lottery tickets online using lottery courier services safely and legally.

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.

Online lottery apps sell tickets to Powerball, Mega Millions, Lucky For Life, Pick 3, and Pick 5 to players located anywhere in the state.

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.

The only forms of legal gambling in Nebraska are defined by NE Code § 28-1101.

Racetrack casinos, sportsbooks at casinos, horse racing betting, licensed charity bingo games, the state lottery, charity raffles, and charity lotteries were all authorized in Nebraska via constitutional amendments.

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

Yes. The first Nebraska sportsbooks opened in 2023 and accept wagers from fans 21 or older.

No. Nebraska law only permits in-person wagering at authorized sportsbooks at casinos.

Nebraska law allows sportsbooks to accept wagers on college games except those played in Nebraksa involving local universities. As a result, Nebraska sportsbooks cannot accept wagers on the Cornhuskers or other in-state teams when their games occur within state lines.

However, some lawmakers have expressed an interest in changing the law to allow wagers on in-state teams. For example, Sen. Eliot Bostar introduced LB 168 in January 2023 to tweak Nebraska sports betting law by allowing wagers on Nebraska colleges wherever they play.