Petitions Circulated to Put Gambling Measures on November Ballot

As early as next year, casinos could be popping up in Nebraska. Three separate petitions could put gambling on the ballot in November.

If you walked onto the horse track, you might have been asked to sign your name three times. Now those signatures are being counted and verified with each county to see if people will get to vote whether to have gambling come to the good life.

"It's just amazing to watch them go and it's amazing to live with them too," said Teressa O'Neill when talking about race horses.

Teressa O'Neill has been training horses since the mid 90's and believes if gambling were to be allowed in Nebraska, it would boost the horse racing industry.

"When you are drawing dead against the system, that's not really being a bad businessman, that's having the government screw you over," O'Neill said.

She adds the horses won't take all of the benefits if the gambling measures pass. "A lot of the people who race here, stay here. Even if it's only for the time that they are racing in Grand Island, they are living here in Grand Island," she said. "They are shopping at our stores. They're going to our events. They are supporting our economy. They're supporting our farmers and if you're in Nebraska, you know if the farmers are having a good year, all the other businesses are having a good year."

Fonner Park Announcer Steve Anderson thinks if gambling passes people will see more horses and the purses will increase.

"At this point because of the expense of breeding a horse and raising it to an age that you can finally get to a race track and what they run for and return, the reward doesn't fit the investment, but I can promise you that if this thing passes in November the breeding industry overnight will totally be revitalized," Anderson said.

The group "Gambling with the Good Life" doesn't see it that way.

"The Winnebago Tribe put up a million dollars, they paid for this. They did not put up the million dollars because they like horses. They put up the million dollars because they know the minute we change the constitution for one slot machine anywhere Indians can have unlimited casinos and slot machines," said "Gambling with the Good Life" Executive Director Pat Loontjer.

Loontjer adds not much of the money from gambling would go back to the community. "The way it is written a small, tiny percentage of the profit is going to come back to the state and the community and it goes into the general funds. It doesn't even go toward education, property tax relief and not one penny goes toward addiction counseling," she said.

Those for the measures say they're sick of hearing people traveling to other states to gamble. "The more money we can keep from going to Iowa, to keep from going to South Dakota, the better," O'Neill said.

"Gambling with the Good Life" plans to form coalitions to get people to vote no. "Churches will be our main one. We will have doctor coalitions, attorney coalitions, big business coalitions, small business coalitions you name it. We even had a grandmothers coalition," Loontjer said.

All those NTV spoke with on both sides agree horse racing is a dying industry, but it's a matter of if these potential ballot measures will help or not.

"The younger generations are used to speed, whether that be the computers or the internet or slot machines. They're not interested in horse racing or dog racing. That is an old person's game and that is why it is dying and we do not believe that you should subsidy a dying industry," Loontjer said.

"I think it's time that the people took the reins from the people who want to tell us how to live our lives," O'Neill said.

According to Nebraska Secretary of State, if 117,188 valid signatures for the constitutional amendment are accounted for that measure will be on the ballot. If each statutory initiative has more than 82,032 signatures, then you'll also see that come November. The signature count results are expected to come out in mid-to-late August.

The following is a review of the three items you could be voting on if casino gambling makes it on the ballot. First, the constitutional amendment would allow for "games of chance" to be played at horse tracks across Nebraska. Second, if there are enough verified signatures you would vote on allowing gaming devices at racetracks in larger cities and creates a state gaming commission. Third, a taxation measure that would tax the money made from the gambling here in Nebraska.