Bill would get Nebraska out of gambling

Kevin O'Hanlon

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2000 | 9 a.m.

LINCOLN, Neb. - With more and more people succumbing to gambling problems, Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha says it is time for Nebraska to get out of the gambling business.

The Legislature's General Affairs Committee heard testimony Monday on Chambers' bill (LB905), which would abolish the state lottery, effective July 1, 2001.

"This is an act that the state ought not to be involved," Chambers said.

With voter approval, Nebraska in 1993 became the 37th state to offer a lottery. Since then, the state's total lottery sales have reached more than $469 million. Of that, more than $250 million has been paid out in prizes and about $100 million has been set aside for annuities to some of the state's Powerball jackpot winners.

The remaining $119 million was distributed to three programs as required by state law. Trust funds established for environmental projects and educational innovations split 99 percent of the money. The remaining 1 percent goes to a fund set up to help compulsive gamblers.

Chambers said it is abhorrent that the state has to advertise to get people to play the lottery - especially when more and more people are reporting gambling problems.

"It is really a tragic situation when a society will try to take advantage of its own citizens," he said.

A study done last year for the National Gambling Impact Study Commission found more than 5 million Americans are pathological or problem gamblers, and 15 million more are at risk of becoming just like them.

Among those supporting the bill are Gambling With the Good Life and the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling.

Speaking against the bill was Don Lambert of the Excellence in Education Fund, who said the lottery has provided needed money to schools that are fighting to keep tax levies down.

"Many good things have been funded by the $56 million" that schools have received, he said.

Sen. Adrian Smith of Gering, who co-sponsored the bill, said he is dismayed that the number of calls to a state hotline for compulsive gambling have skyrocketed.

The Nebraska Council on Compulsive Gambling said calls to the hotline increased from less than 500 in 1993 to about 6,700 in 1999. During the same period, casino gambling also started in Iowa, across the river from Omaha.

Nebraska has no casinos except for a small one operating illegally on the Santee Sioux Tribe's reservation in the northeast part of the state. Many Nebraskans, however, cross state lines to gamble at casinos.

Smith said lottery outlets in Nebraska are so prevalent that it leads to compulsive gambling.

Some 1,200 outlets sell scratch tickets statewide. Of those, about 850 also offer tickets to lottery games such as Powerball - the multi-state lottery - Cash 4 Life and Nebraska Pick 5.

The bill does not call for abolishing bingo and pickle cards, forms of gambling that Chambers also opposes.

The committee also heard testimony on a bill (LB1087) by Smith that would require the lottery to take half of what it spends on advertising and give it to the Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund. The lottery spends about $3 million a year on advertising, Smith said.

A 1999 Gallup poll said nearly two-thirds of American adults approve of legal gambling. Three-quarters of those surveyed said they approve of state lotteries, while 67 percent said that opening a casino helps a community's economy.

Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia now run lotteries; commercial casinos operate in 10 states, and American Indian tribes have opened casinos in at least 22 states.

Sen. Ed Schrock of Elm Creek pointed out to Chambers that Nebraska voters approved the lottery.

Chambers responded that the vote did not surprise him because pro-gambling groups spent a lot of money to buy advertising to garner support for the idea.

"There were gambling interests outside the state that pushed it," Chambers said, "Money speaks at all levels."

The committee also heard testimony on a bill (LB1241) by Sen. Ray Janssen of Nickerson that would augment the money now given to the state's Gamblers Assistance Program. The program is now funded by money from charitable gambling. Janssen's bill would augment that with money from the lottery.