March 30, 2026 · General Affairs · 2,125 words · 1 speakers · 5 segments
Four minutes left. Okay, we're. Good to go. Well, mr. Lee, thank you for being here today. Go ahead and give us your introduction. Good afternoon senators. My name is dennis d e n n I s. Last name is lee l e e. I'm here today because governor pillen has reappointed me to the Nebraska racing and gaming commission. I've been a racing commissioner appointed by the governor since october of 1988. I have been reappointed each term. Initially there were three year terms. They were later changed to four year terms. The commission grew from three commissioners to now seven. And professionally. I'm an attorney in omaha. My practice is restricted and limited to estate planning and probate. My office is in west omaha. I've been blessed with an opportunity to work with the racing industry, my involvement in the industry, just to give you a little background, began well before my appointment. Those of you that remember a place called aksarben, I worked my way through high school, college and law school in various capacities at harbine. And so really my involvement in the horse racing side of the industry started in about 1972 when I was in high school. I've had a lot of interactions with all the players in the industry, meaning the racetracks. Now we have casinos in Nebraska. We have five casinos. Our horsemen's and tbey are Nebraska thoroughbred breeders association, the horsemen's benevolent protective association, and the jockeys guild. I have really enjoyed my service on the commission. It's my way to give back to an industry that gave so much to me over the years. I appreciate the governor's confidence in reappointing me for another term, and I'd be happy to answer any of your questions. Thank you, mr. Lee. Questions? Yes, Senator. Thank you. Chairman holdcroft, thank you for being here. You said 88. The governor appointed me on october 4th, 1988. Okay. So how are you? I guess, in your opinion, how are you seeing where we're going with the the racing? You seem very positive things as we move. I couldn't have answered positive 20 years ago when closed in. I think it was 1997 or 1998. Exorbitant was the heartbeat of the racing industry and the racing industry. Just to broaden the definition is not just a racetracks, it's not just a horses that are running the racetracks and the related people that they employ, but it's the breeders, the breed, those horses in Nebraska, breds. And it has an impact over the entire ag industry throughout Nebraska. When exorbitant closed, they were dark days for many years because that was synonymous with the the dog tracks and the casinos opening across the river in council bluffs. Omaha, of course, is our major metropolitan area, and the only tracks we had then were in lincoln, grand island, columbus and south sioux city, and the hpa stepped up to the plate.
They built a track called horsemen's park on 67th and q street, and that was a little light at the end of the tunnel. But then we had additional gaming opportunities that were developing in iowa. And now, as time has gone on, I've had the benefit of seeing a lot of changes, not necessarily positive in the national gaming industry. There's predictive markets. That's that's becoming something that is just going to be difficult to regulate and it's impacting us and our beneficiaries. The tracks, the horsemen, the breeders and the ag industry. And so that's something the predictive markets may eventually find its way to your body because it's so new right now. There was an editorial recently in the dallas morning news. Burt said the only way to resolve and regulate because it's not regulated now predictive markets is with federal government intervention. It's just those things are going to be constant changes. But for us now, at least in my view, and I'm just speaking as one person, the industry, the legislative or the voters initiative that approved gaming tied to a race track was key to kind of not decouple those. You can have it. You can't have in Nebraska, you can't have a racetrack without a with or you can't have a casino without a racetrack. There's legislation in florida now to decouple that, which essentially I think would be the death knell of the of the racing industry. Nebraska, I believe Nebraska has been very proactive. It took us a while to kind of react from the exorbitant demise and that loss of 85 days of horse racing every year at exorbitant and and the tracks. Fonner park has been a real clear leader in their capacity. I share with people a lot that grand island and fonner park take the absolute worst days of the year, and they consistently hold a real solid race meet. They're very cooperative with the industry. They open their track mid-december for training. That gives those horses a good, a good, and we build a new mile racetrack in columbus. I say we I'm not talking about the commission. It's the industry. And that's the only mile track we have in. In Nebraska. The previous one was at exorbitant. So there's been a lot of changes. I think this body, the industry and the commission has been really responsive to those changes. Other questions. Senator rodriguez, thank you so much, chairman holdcroft. Thank you so much, sir, for your reinforcement. Very important. But now being confirmed, as you look at the landscape here for Nebraska, you've been you've seen it since 88 to sarpy county is one of the fastest growing counties in in the state of this time. Do you see opportunity for expansion in sarpy county and then further out in the state? I do see an opportunity for expansion. When we talk expansion, we need to remember we have to combine racetrack with casinos.
Currently after I think your bill was 876 several years ago, after the voter initiative approved casino wagering at licensed racing facilities, the commission received, if I recall correctly, seven applications for applicants communities to build a racetrack with, of course, the pathway then assumingly to build a casino. We have applications from bellevue, we have applications from york, we have applications from norfolk. I think mccook and scottsbluff are gering, and I may be leaving one out. When those began to come in after 876 became effective, it was. I announced to the industry at one of our commission meetings that are charged at that point, in the commission's view, was to not award new licenses, but to get the casinos licensed, regulated, operational. And so the casinos at our present tracks are operational and have been. So that was the charge that the commission prioritized those issues over new expansion. One of the things that. And I've talked with our staff and other commissioners, I believe now that since we have casinos operating in omaha and lincoln and grand island and ogallala and columbus, that we are now in a position where we've laid the foundation and they're operational. And if you look at the 20% gaming tax that comes in, there's a lot of revenue that is being generated for all the different beneficiaries of that 20%. I envision in 2026. The commission will then hold public hearings on those other 6 or 7 applicants throughout the state. One of the things that we have to measure, and this is in the statute, is that we have to have a feasibility study done. And the one concern everywhere is oversaturation of the market, and that's probably no more clear than in the omaha area market, which I'm including sarpy county in, because there's three casinos in council bluffs. We have casino at 67th and q, and we did a market study because the Legislature had gave us a deadline to do a market study. I think it was by end of 24, if I recall correctly, we did it, but it wasn't really an informative market study because we hadn't had casinos open very long. And so there was there wasn't really a valid pool of numbers to consider with regard to that. So I think the market study in jurisdictions, gambling jurisdictions across north america, but I think we're going to have to redo that market study. But I think all those applicants, and I'm guessing there'll be some other communities that will apply as well. They'll have their public hearing. But our analysis, I believe as as the charge of the commission from the Legislature, is to consider the feasibility study as to the oversaturation, potential oversaturation. And there's other elements in the feasibility study as well. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. Another question, Senator dekay. Thank you real quick.
How do you have any idea what percentage of revenue comes into the state from across the border from kansas, iowa or wherever? I don't have specific numbers. I have information that after three months of operating warhorse casino in lincoln and warhorse casino in omaha, there was an 18% drop collectively in the casinos and council bluffs. So there was always kind of an assumption in the industry that a lot of money was going to kansas, to iowa, and they're pretty closely guarded numbers in iowa. But I think our I think we've had a positive impact for Nebraska, a negative impact for the casinos in iowa, in the state of iowa. And I think that's going to continue just in terms of what we do. And, you know, there's a voter initiative that potentially may go in november to address the mobile wagering. And that's a real. In my view, mobile wagering is a major negative hurdle for collectively our industry right now. Because with this weekend, we had ncaa elite eight and sweet 16 and elite eight games, and I didn't see any figures for what the wagers were at our casinos on that. But I can tell you from industry information that I get, there's more money wagered on those mobile sites. You can't I don't think you can watch a sports event now without having an ad from twinspires or bet, mgm or somebody else. They are not regulated by the commission. And so one of the things that we've talked about at the racing commission recently, and the two people behind me are executive director and deputy director, whom I refer to as our dream team. We've talked about what I anticipate that the voters approve the mobile wagering initiative. I think the commission is important to be proactive, and then it comes before you when you adopt legislation directing the commission to adopt rules and regulations to implement that. So one of the things we're considering in anticipation, and I don't think it's going to be premature, but is sending letters to places like bet, mgm, twinspires, all those venues and platforms that you see advertised during every major sporting event, particularly basketball, this time of year, and just inform them that we regulate gaming in Nebraska, which is potentially including mobile wagering. We have a sense that you're accepting wagers from Nebraska on these platforms. And just understand that if the voters pass it and the Legislature approves it and the governor signs it, and we develop rules and regs, one of the questions on the application to be a mobile betting platform affiliated with the casino in Nebraska is, have you accepted bets in Nebraska on mobile sites prior to your submission of an application?
And we don't have any teeth, admittedly, to that letter, it's not a show cause or anything of that nature, but I would hope it would give them reason for pause because in the scheme of their international marketing income, I have to think that Nebraska is kind of small compared to other states, but I believe it's going to be. I'm hoping it has a positive impact that I that the shut off the platform, and I'm not naive enough to think that they will, but that they shut off the platform pending maybe approval by the voters, approval by this body and approval of the governor. So there's a lot of things going on in the racing and gaming industry. Any other questions for the nominee? Seeing none, are you going to testify back there? No. No. Then did you want to make a closing statement? No. I'd waive the closing. Okay. Well, thank you very much, mr. Leigh. Thanks for having me down. I appreciate your attention. And that will conclude our hearing today on mr.