Representative. Tom Osborn, who lost the GOP gubernatorial nomination to Gov. Dave Heineman in May, joined forces with a coalition, Gambling With the Good Life, Monday fighting plans to expand gambling in Nebraska.
One effort to allowed casino gambling is mired in the courts this year. The anti-gambling group most recently helped defeat two ballot initiatives in 2004 to allow casino gambling in Nebraska.
Last week, a lawsuit filed by Greg Lemon, of The Committee for Better Schools and More Jobs in Nebraska Inc., challenges Secretary of State John Gale's decision to not allow the two ballot initiative questions on the November ballot.
Gale said the casino measure violates the state constitution's limit on submitting similar ballot proposals more than once in three years.
Even though details of the new proposal differ from past ones, Gale considered it more of the same. Nebraska voted down two casino plans in November 2004 - one touted by Las Vegas casino interests and the other by the Legislature.
The casino industry returned this year with a proposal to put three casinos in the state and another to allow video keno in keno parlors across the state. That proposal would put slot machines across the state at 620 licensed keno operators. Video keno is potentially more addictive than other forms of gambling, Osborn said.
Wednesday, August 09 , 2006
Louis Blechdom
