The Nebraska Supreme Court has ruled residents should be able to vote on a constitutional amendment to legalize casino gambling and two initiatives to regulate casinos.
The ruling supports a petition from the group “Keep the Money in Nebraska” and others. The CEO of the Native American Ho-Chunk tribe, Lance Morgan, says they want to bring the gambling into the state and there is support.
“We’ve done the polling and the vast majority of Nebraskans support it. I think anybody who knows anything down in Omaha knows the Council Bluffs (Iowa) casinos are full of Nebraskans.” Morgan says. “So gaming is here — there’s gaming in every state that touches Nebraska.”
Nebraska’s Secretary of State had refused to put the measures on the November ballot, saying there were multiple conflicting issues. The Supreme Court’s split decision overrules the Secretary of State and Morgan says they will now campaign to get the measures passed.
“And my guess is we’ll face some challenges — both socially-oriented challenges — and then challenges probably funded by Iowa casinos I suppose,” Morgan says. “We will fight for our share of the airways and see if we can get people to join us.”
The Nebraska Supreme Court in a separate ruling rejected putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot to legalize medical marijuana.
(By Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City)