Nebraska Appears to Reject Online Sports Betting Legalization After Industry Spends Millions

Nebraska voters appear to have turned down two ballot measures that would have legalized online sports betting in the state. For PSPs and gambling operators, the result matters because it keeps Nebraska’s sports betting market limited to the current setup rather than opening another regulated online channel.

1. With more than 90% of votes counted, Nebraska appears to have rejected Measure 440, which would have amended the state constitution to authorize sports betting laws, and Measure 441, which would have created a state gaming commission to regulate the industry.
2. According to the latest estimates published by the New York Times, more than 54% of voters opposed each measure. That means the ballot effort failed even after a high-spend push from the industry.
3. Financial Times reported that DraftKings and FanDuel each donated about $10 million to Tax Relief Nebraska, the group backing the measures. The companies were trying to expand legal sports betting in the state; the vote suggests that money alone does not guarantee regulatory expansion.
4. Under Nebraska’s current laws, retail sports betting is legal only in licensed casinos in the state, according to an American Gaming Association report. Online betting, the part of the market most PSPs care about, would have required the ballot measures to pass.
5. The broader market backdrop is still growing: the American Gaming Association said the legal sports betting industry generated a record $16,960 million in revenue in 2025 and collected about $3,710 million in local taxes in states with regulated sports betting. At the same time, online sportsbooks now face competition from prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi, which argue they should be regulated federally rather than by individual states.