Nebraska pro-gambling legislator insists legalization measure should be on November ballot

Supporters said they were shocked to learn this month that petition circulators didn't gather enough valid signatures to put the issue before voters in the Nov. 8 general election. The 10-month petition drive flopped because nearly 42,000 signatures — more than one-third of the total collected — were declared invalid.

"We don't have a consensus on what to do just yet," said Lance Morgan, CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc., the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska's economic development corporation. "We have not formulated a definitive plan, but we do plan to continue with this."

Ho-Chunk Inc. paid virtually all of the campaign's costs in partnership with the Nebraska Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, a group that promotes horse racing.

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Horse racing advocates say casino games would help revive their struggling industry

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Ho-Chunk wanted to reopen Atokad Downs, a South Sioux City race track that closed in 2012, and operate a casino on the site. The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska owns and operates WinnaVegas Casino Resort in Sloan, Iowa, but the facility lost some of its market share when the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino opened in Sioux City, Iowa, in 2014.

Barry Lake, the horsemen group's president, said board members will meet soon to discuss their next steps.

"It's too early to tell at this point," Lake said. "We were all in with that petition drive. The two partner organizations contributed a great deal of money and employee resources to it. We were obviously shocked and disappointed."

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Legalizing casinos in Nebraska would require a constitutional amendment approved by voters. At least 117,188 valid signatures were needed to place the issue on the ballot this year, but Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale announced this month that petition organizers didn't submit enough

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Organizers turned in nearly 120,000 signatures for the proposed constitutional amendment. However, more than 24,000 were rejected because signers weren't registered in the county indicated on the petition sheet. Another 4,600 were rejected as duplicates, and more than 3,000 were turned down because signers were not registered voters.

The ballot drive included two other petitions that spelled out how casinos would be regulated and taxed, but those measures are moot without a constitutional amendment to allow gambling.

Gambling opponents cheered the announcement but said they expect casino interests will push for legalization again, possibly through next year's Legislature.

"They're always going to come back," said Pat Loontjer, executive director of Gambling with the Good Life. "It's a greed-driven industry. They're not going to go away."

Loontjer said the failure to gather enough signatures shows a lack of support among voters. Nebraska allows keno, horse racing and a lottery, but voters have repeatedly rejected video gambling machines.

"With more than $1 million and 10 months, (petition organizers) couldn't get their signatures," she said. "The people of Nebraska have spoken. They do not want this. We're just grateful to the citizens of Nebraska who care about their quality of life."

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Some lawmakers who support casino gambling criticized the ballot measures, saying they would have made it much harder for the Legislature to regulate the industry

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Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus, who has worked on previous gambling ballot measures, said lawmakers should submit their own proposal next year that allows more regulation.

"It would be wise for the Legislature to say, 'That was a near miss. Maybe it would behoove us to put something on the ballot," said Schumacher. "The Legislature now has a chance to do it right."

Schumacher disputed the argument that the proposal failed to make the ballot because of a lack of support. He pointed to previous ballot drives that gathered enough signatures to qualify, including the ones where he was involved in 2002 and 2004. During those years, he said organizers relied on an elaborate tracking system to weed out duplicate and invalid signatures.

"Had this latest initiative been done competently, it would have been on the ballot," Schumacher said.