Las Vegas firms pour money into gambling effort

Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2004 | 10:52 a.m.

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Las Vegas interests have pumped another $1.65 million into the battle to legalize casinos in Nebraska -- bringing the total raised by camps on both sides of the issue to more than $6.5 million.

Five separate gambling-related measures appear on the ballot, four of which are part of a package put there through initiative petitions, the other a legislative plan called Amendment 3.

Keep the Money in Nebraska, which supports the initiatives, reported raising $500,000 for the reporting period of Sept. 29 through Oct. 18 and getting a late contribution of $765,000 -- including $465,000 from Coast Casinos of Las Vegas -- on Oct. 21, bringing their total to $3.9 million.

The Yes on Amendment 3 committee raised $1 million in the period and reported a late contribution of $885,000 on Oct. 21. All the money came from the Venetian hotel and casino.

That brought the group's total to $2.7 million, much of which has been poured into TV ads.