Fill gambling void deliberately

With so many other things on their plate, it's understandable that Nebraska's state senators didn't get around to dealing with the gambling and casino questions in this year's legislative session.

But, because the lawmakers didn't take action, it opens the door for special interest groups and citizen organizations to come up with a plan to place before the voters.

One such plan was bound for the ballot in 2002, but was struck down just before the election printing deadline because it contained too many subjects.

No one knows for sure how that ballot initiative would have turned out, but there was genuine concern among government leaders and gambling opponents that the issue would have passed. Therefore, they sought, and succeeded, in getting the initiative petition thrown out.

The plan -- promoted by a group that included keno operators and local government leaders -- would have permitted video slots at numerous locations throughout the state, with a portion of the ensuing revenue being returned to cities to reduce reliance on property and sales taxes.

The court system and the gambling foes had a legitimate point. The ballot initiative was too wide-ranging on one hand and too specific on the other, unfairly favoring those with keno operations.

Already, new plans are surfacing. Earlier this week, a former candidate for Nebraska State Treasurer, Rene Dreiling, sent e-mails to a number of Nebraska newspapers, including the McCook Daily Gazette. In the e-mail, Dreiling says, "My idea is to share the majority of the gambling tax proceeds with all Nebraskans." She would do this by creating a restricted fund, which could only be reimbursed to Nebraska taxpayers through what she calls a "gambling tax personal exemption credit for residents only."

According to the former treasurer candidate, this would be similar to the current line 19 on the Nebraska Individual Income Tax Return Form 1040N. That way, she says, Nebraskans, whether they live in Omaha, Papillion, Valentine, Sidney or anywhere else, would have the ability to share in this revenue.

Her idea also calls for a small share of the fund to go for the operation of the fund and social payments. While the idea is noble, it is not likely that Dreiling's idea will fly. It's simply too much trouble for the small amount of money that will return to the individual taxpayers. But what her plan does do is remind us that, very soon, all kinds of plans are going to be circulating, as organizations try to serve themselves with gambling ballot plans tailored to their specific interests.

Rather than let that happen, a coalition of organizations -- representing cities and counties -- needs to get together to draft a ballot plan which tightly governs gambling operations, while maximizing tax relief on the local level.

Because state senators failed to act on gambling legislation, a void has been created. More than likely, that void will be filled. The only question is whether it will be done deliberately for the best interests of the majority of Nebraskans, or allowed to develop haphazardly as it has in the past.