Economist says Nebraska gambling to hurt treasury

Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2002 | 11:04 a.m.

DES MOINES -- A constitutional amendment Nebraskans appear ready to vote on in November to expand gambling could further hurt Iowa's ailing state treasury, an Omaha, Neb., researcher says.

The proposal would allow up to 326,000 slot and video-poker-like machines in establishments that have liquor licenses.

If the question appears on the ballot and is approved by voters, the state's constitution would be changed to allow video slot machines in bars, restaurants, race tracks and keno parlors, and in designated video slot parlors within 20 miles of any community that already has video gambling.

Meanwhile, some Nebraska lawmakers believe momentum is building to approve casino gambling to recoup gambling money lost to Ameristar, Bluffs Run and Harrah's in Council Bluffs.

"A casino here would definitely have an impact on Iowa's tax revenues," Creighton University business professor Ernest Goss, who is finishing a study on the impact of building a casino in Omaha, said Thursday. "You'd have to believe that expanded slot gambling in Nebraska would also have an impact on Iowa's horse-racing industry."

Iowa could expect to lose a significant portion of the almost $86 million reaped annually in state gaming taxes from those three casinos if a comparable one were built in Nebraska, Goss said. Vastly expanding slots statewide, meanwhile, would affect other parts of Iowa's economy, he said.