County voters to decide on keno issue

HARTINGTON – Cedar County voters will get the chance to vote yes or no on a keno lottery issue on this year’ s general election ballot.

The Cedar County Commissioners approved at its July 23 meeting for the issue to be put out to voters.

EMR Ventures, doing business as the Backroad Barbecue near St. Helena, made the request to add keno to their business. With no municipality jurisdiction, the request elevated it to a county-wide issue.

If approved, Cedar County would become part of the Nebraska Cooper ative Government (NCG) interlocal body which oversees lottery distributions, said Bill Kurtenbach, a Columbus attorney who represents NCG Because NCG is a collective of more than 100 entities, it’s able to offer more attractive jackpots and individual businesses aren’t paying out winnings themselves, he said.

In general, the sponsoring municipality or county nets about 10 percent of the net revenue, after all taxes and expenses are paid, Kurtenbach said.

The Nebraska constitution requires that any net lottery proceeds must be used for community betterment.

“That’s defined pretty broadly. You can use it for just about anything, they have a pretty wide discretion,” Kurtenbach said, except for lottery funds, which cannot be used to hire a lobbyist.

Some counties or municipalities use lottery proceeds in their general funds to help offset property taxes, while others sav e it for a special project.

How much revenue it can bring in all depends on how much it is played, he said.

“The single biggest factor is the enthusiasm of the local bar o wner. If it’s sitting on the back bar and it just sits there and collecting dust, it’s not collecting any revenue,” he said.

Keno is offered at the Hartington Golf Course currently while Ra ndolph and Wynot have offered keno in the past, Kurtenbach said.

“I don’t see a downside to it,” he said. “Some people will argue there’s a moral downside to it but I think keno is a pretty innocuous gam e. The thing is, you can go across the river to Yankton and if people want to g amble, they’ll go over there. You might as well keep the money at home .”

At the July 23 county commissioner meeting, the Backroad Barbecue business owners – Keith Eickhoff, Dion Miller and Casey Rossiter - were also granted a liquor license.