Casino Opponents Huddle

State senators and small businesses are joining the fight against casino gambling that already includes churches and two of Nebraska's most prominent personalities. Eighteen senators signed on to an editorial opposing ballot measures to approve casino gambling that was set to be mailed Friday to 86 newspapers across the state. The senators also tentatively plan an October news conference to speak out against casino gambling. Some small business owners are also speaking out against expanded gambling. Ron Meredith, owner of Chubb Foods in Omaha, said his business suffered a 15 percent drop in retail sales when casinos opened across the river from Omaha in Council Bluffs, Iowa. "If casinos are built in Nebraska, other businesses, as well as my own, stand to lose even more sales," Meredith said in a statement announcing formation of the small business group. Governor Mike Johanns met Thursday with Pat Loontjer, leader of the anti-gambling group Gambling with the Good Life, and Nancy Osborne, the wife of U.S. Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb. Following the meeting, Johanns said he intends to request a legal opinion from Attorney General Jon Bruning asking if legalizing casinos will allow the state's four American Indian tribes to build casinos in Nebraska, and whether they could build them on land owned off the reservation. "I believe in the end were going to find out this isn't about two casinos, it's about more casinos," he said. Johanns, a gambling opponent, said casinos would not be good for Nebraska. "This is not an economic windfall, it's an economic downfall," he said. Nancy Osborne plans to hold fund-raisers in her home to help the anti-gambling effort, Loontjer said. Osborne already has contributed $5,000 to the effort. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has contributed $10,000. Osborne also voiced his opposition to gambling in 30-second radio and television ads that aired in late June and early July. In the ads, Osborne urged Nebraskans to vote "no" on all expanded gambling measures in November. The spokeswoman for Keep the Money in Nebraska, which circulated petitions to get a four-part casino gambling measure on the ballot, said her group has not seen any negative impact due to the big-name opponents. "I don't think it will affect us much," Julia Plucker said. Keep the Money in Nebraska's proposal would allow two casinos to be built in Omaha and about 4,900 video poker and slot machines in bars, keno parlors and racetracks across the state, if approved locally. The signatures required for that to make the ballot are expected to be certified any day. Amendment 3, put on the Nov. 2 ballot by the Legislature this year, would allow two casinos to be built anywhere in Nebraska. The Legislature's plan is supported by Las Vegas' Venetian Casino, while the petition drive is backed by Coast Casinos, also of Las Vegas. The petition effort also has the support of many keno parlors and racetrack backers. Keep the Money in Nebraska has spent $1 million on the effort and has said it will spend another $1 million on advertising. A group formed to support the Legislature's plan has said it will announce its strategy and partners in the coming weeks.