GeoComply Says It Has Blocked More Than 2 Million Illegal Bets In Nebraska In 2024

GeoComply, the global leader in geolocation, fraud prevention, and cybersecurity solutions, has blocked more than 2 million attempts to place online sports bets in Nebraska between January and the end of June 2024, a recently released market study shows.

GeoComply blocked 4.5 million attempts at online bets in Nebraska from July 2023 through June 2024

According to the available data, the Vancouver-based software company blocked 4.5 million attempts at online bets in Nebraska from July 2023 to June 2024. Note that online gaming is illegal and controlled by geofence technology in the Cornhusker State.

The yearlong period includes the entire college football and NFL seasons. Football saw the most betting interest — says Danny DiRienzo, a senior director with GeoComply, a market leader in geolocation, fraud, and risk services that conducted the study.

“Right now, if they’re in Nebraska, they’re going to be blocked from wagering,” DiRienzo said. GeoComply’s technology detects the use of a VPN and will continue to block unauthorized wagers.

“Geolocation technology prevents people from masking their true location,” he added.

Although a number of potential sports bettors are hitting the geofence, others have found a way around it. Gamblers are either crossing the state lines to place a wager or using a VPN to mask their digital location, according to Lincoln Sen. Eliot Bostar.

Lincoln Sen. Eliot Bostar introduced measure LB13 for legalized online sports gaming in the Cornhusker state

Last Thursday began the first day of a special session of the Legislature aimed at reducing property taxes in Nebraska. Bostar introduced a measure (LB13) that would legalize online sports gaming in the Cornhusker state.

“Because it is currently accessible to anyone who really wants to participate, our state is already incurring the social costs associated with a gambling population,” Bostar said. “However, we are not generating any of the revenue that would normally come with that activity to the state.”

Revenue from sports betting could be used to fund state services, lower taxes and shore up Nebraska’s fiscal health, Bostar added. “Right now, we have all of the downsides of sports gambling and none of the upsides.”

Nebraska’s population is a bit more than 1.9 million. Yet, more than 2 million bets were denied over the last six months on America’s biggest online betting sites.

According to the Lincoln Journal Star, GeoComply’s market study also indicates that 64,000 Nebraskans opened online accounts at one of the top four betting sites — DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM and Caesars Entertainment — in the last year, a 41% increase.

Those new accounts could have been a determining factor in the number of denied bets. Though, the study showed more than 21,000 of those denied bets came from out-of-state betting in Iowa.

“I think it’s amazing that there are more people trying to access online sports betting than there are actual people in the state,” said Lance Morgan, the CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc. “I think that’s very telling in terms of support for this.”

Legalized online sports betting must be on the ballot this November, or it will be delayed until November 2026

At the moment, the focus is getting legalized online sports betting on the ballot by November. However, two obstacles stand in the way. A statutory change would be required in order to amend the current law to take up the matter during a special session. That was included in Bostar’s bill.

Since it is a constitutional amendment, 30 votes would be needed. If passed, it would not have to be signed by Pillen. If the Nebraska Legislature were to wait until January, when the next regular legislative session begins, the constitutional amendment wouldn’t be able to go before voters until November 2026.

“The difference in that time is currently estimated to be $100 million to the state of Nebraska,” Bostar said.

Under Bostar’s proposal, 90% of that revenue would be directed into the Property Tax Credit Cash Fund. The remainder would be split between the Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund and the Racing and Gaming Commission.

In addition to BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings, and FanDuel, GeoComply also services Golden Nugget, PokerStars, and Prime Video. It has a 99% transaction pass rate for geolocation compliance, per the website.

It surveils over 1 billion geolocation transactions monthly. In fact, it’s currently installed on over 400 million devices worldwide.