Nebraska Horse Track Initiative Amendment (2016)

Nebraska Horse Track Amendment
Election date November 8, 2016
Topic Gambling
Status Not on the ballot
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin Citizens

Voting on Gambling
Ballot Measures
By state
By year
Not on ballot
Local Measures

The Horse Track Amendment was not put on the November 8, 2016, ballot in Nebraska as an initiated constitutional amendment.

The measure would have amended the state constitution to allow citizens to petition to allow all forms of gambling to be conducted with horse racing in the state.

Supporters of the initiative also submitted two other measures: the Horse Track Gaming Regulations Initiative and the Horse Track Gaming Taxation Initiative.

Text of measure

Ballot summary

The proposed ballot summary was as follows:

“

Amend the Nebraska Constitution to state that the people may by initiative measure allow for all forms of games of chance to be conducted with licensed horseracing in Nebraska.

”

Full text

The full text of the measure was as follows (underscored language would be added):

“

Article III. Section 24 of the Nebraska Constitution shall be amended by adding Subsection (5) as shown: (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. (3)(a) The Legislature may establish a lottery to be operated and regulated by the State of Nebraska. The proceeds of the lottery shall be appropriated by the Legislature for the costs of establishing and maintaining the lottery and for the following purposes, as directed by the Legislature: (i) The first five hundred thousand dollars after the payment of prizes and operating expenses shall be transferred to the Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund; (ii) Forty-four and one-half percent of the money remaining after the payment of prizes and operating expenses and the initial transfer to the Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund shall be transferred to the Nebraska Environmental Trust Fund to be used as provided in the Nebraska Environmental Trust Act; (iii) Forty-four and one-half percent of the money remaining after the payment of prizes and operating expenses and the initial transfer to the Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund shall be used for education as the Legislature may direct; (iv) Ten percent of the money remaining after the payment of prizes and operating expenses and the initial transfer to the Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund shall be transferred to the Nebraska State Fair Board if the most populous city within the county in which the fair is located provides matching funds equivalent to ten percent of the funds available for transfer. Such matching funds may be obtained from the city and any other private or public entity, except that no portion of such matching funds shall be provided by the state. If the Nebraska State Fair ceases operations, ten percent of the money remaining after the payment of prizes and operating expenses and the initial transfer to the Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund shall be transferred to the General Fund; and (v) One percent of the money remaining after the payment of prizes and operating expenses and the initial transfer to the Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund shall be transferred to the Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund. (b) No lottery game shall be conducted as part of the lottery unless the type of game has been approved by a majority of the members of the Legislature. (4) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit (a) the enactment of laws providing for the licensing and regulation of wagering on the results of horseraces, wherever run, either within or outside of the state, by the parimutuel method, when such wagering is conducted by licensees within a licensed racetrack enclosure or (b) the enactment of laws providing for the licensing and regulation of bingo games conducted by nonprofit associations which have been in existence for a period of five years immediately preceding the application for license, except that bingo games cannot be conducted by agents or lessees of such associations on a percentage basis. (5) This section shall not apply to any laws enacted by the people by the initiative process by which the people, contemporaneously with the adoption of this subsection or at any time thereafter, provide for the authorization, regulation, and taxation of games of chance to be conducted with licensed horseracing within the state.

”

Support

The measure was sponsored by:

• Keep The Money in Nebraska
• Ho-Chunk, Inc.
• Nebraska Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association
• Omaha Exposition & Racing, Inc.

Supporters

• Former Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh

Campaign finance

As of March 2016, Ho-Chunk, Inc. had contributed more than $875,000 to Keep the Money in Nebraska, making up the majority of the $904,167 the group had raised as of March 26, 2016.

Opposition

Gambling with the Good Life led the opposition campaign for the amendment.

Opponents

• Hal Daub, former congressman and Omaha mayor
• Gov. Pete Ricketts (R)

Arguments against

Pat Loontjer, executive director of Gambling with the Good Life, said:

“

Nothing's off the table. We're going to fight this tooth and nail, because we're fighting for our children and grandchildren. It's not about the money.

”

Rev. Al Riskowski, executive director of the Nebraska Family Alliance, stated:

“

We expected at some point that there would be another large-scale attempt to bring casinos into Nebraska. It's not surprising. It's just disappointing.

”

Hal Daub, former congressman and Omaha mayor said:

“

If these petitions are passed, the floodgates will be opened to unregulated, untaxed slot machine gambling, not only for Native American casino proliferation, but for out-of-state profit casino operations.

”

Campaign finance

As of March 26, 2016, Gambling with the Good Life had about $97,000 in cash on hand.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Nebraska

Nebraska's signature requirement for ballot initiatives is unique amongst the states. The number of required signatures is tied to the number of registered voters in the state as of the deadline for filing signatures. For initiated constitutional amendments, the number of signatures required is equivalent to 10 percent of registered voters at the time of the deadline. The deadline was four months prior to the general election date of November 8, 2016, which meant the signatures were due around July 8, 2016. Supporters submitted about 130,000 signatures for the initiative to the Secretary of State's office on July 8, 2016. The amendment failed to qualify for the ballot after the Secretary of State rejected about 40,000 of the submitted signatures during the verification process.

Lawsuit

On January 16, 2017, Ho-Chunk Inc., one of the sponsors for the measure, filed a one million dollar lawsuit against the polling company that worked on gathering signatures for the support campaign: Northstar Campaign Systems. Ho-Chunk Inc. argued that Northstar Campaign Systems was responsible for failing to get enough valid signatures to qualify the measure for the 2016 ballot, particularly due to the high error rate produced by signatures that were submitted, and that they made exaggerated claims about the amount of signatures gathered.

State profile

Demographic data for Nebraska
	Nebraska	U.S.
Total population:	1,893,765	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	76,824	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	88.1%	73.6%
Black/African American:	4.7%	12.6%
Asian:	2%	5.1%
Native American:	0.9%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.2%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	10%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	90.7%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	29.3%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$52,997	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	14.6%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Nebraska. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Nebraska

Nebraska voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, one is located in Nebraska, accounting for 0.5 percent of the total pivot counties.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nebraska had one Retained Pivot County, 0.55 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.

More Nebraska coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Nebraska
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• Public policy in Nebraska
• Endorsers in Nebraska
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• More...

See also

Suggest a link

• Nebraska 2016 ballot measures
• 2016 ballot measures
• Nebraska Legislature
• List of Nebraska ballot measures

Footnotes

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