![\"Sen.](\"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/SenAguilar_inline-200x300.jpg\")
The bill would help implement the provisions of a constitutional amendment passed in 2020 that authorized licensed horse racing tracks to offer games of chance.<\/p>\n
Aguilar said LB371 would enable such casinos located near fairgrounds in Grand Island, Hastings and Columbus to remain open while fairs are being held. He assured lawmakers that there would not be \u201cpoker tables by the Ferris wheel\u201d because the casinos would be located in a building with a dedicated entrance that is separate from the fair.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a way to allow both the fair and the casino to conduct business as normal while remaining distinctly separate from each other,\u201d Aguilar said.<\/p>\n
Lincoln Sen. Suzanne Geist said the bill gave her pause because it could lead to parents gambling in the casino while their children participate in the fair.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the midway [you] end up having a large number of young people who are not supervised,\u201d Geist said. \u201cI see that as a problem \u2014 a ripe situation for human traffickers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sen. John Lowe of Kearney opposed LB371, saying that games of chance and family friendly fairs don\u2019t mix.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about the family and I think during that time we have to look at ourselves and see what\u2019s important in life,\u201d Lowe said. \u201cThe fairs are about showing off our best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sen. Tom Briese of Albion spoke in support of the bill. He said voters delivered a mandate in favor of casino gaming at racetracks in the 2020 general election and it is the Legislature\u2019s duty to implement that decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Sen. Aguilar proposes here is entirely consistent with what the voters mandated,\u201d Briese said.<\/p>\n
Also in support was Bellevue Sen. Carol Blood, who said that senators in opposition were \u201cmaking something out of nothing.\u201d She said lawmakers shouldn\u2019t ask a legal business to close down during a fair because of moral objections.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see anyone worried about the beer gardens at the county fairs \u2014 because that\u2019s an issue. People can get drunk and drive home intoxicated. Children could climb the fence and possibly get alcohol,\u201d Blood said. \u201cWe can sit here and pontificate all day long on the what-ifs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senators advanced LB371 to select file on a 38-5 vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A bill that would allow games of chance at licensed racetracks in Nebraska that are located near fairgrounds to operate at the same time as a fair advanced from general file March 16. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[263],"class_list":["post-29713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-affairs","tag-sen-raymond-aguilar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/LB371Aguilar3-16-21a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29713"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29728,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29713\/revisions\/29728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}