As night falls over WarHorse Casino, a notable demographic emerges: college students. Among them is 22-year-old Will Wooden, a senior accounting major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who is drawn to the allure of sports betting rather than traditional games like blackjack or poker.
“I don’t do much of, you know, the traditional gambling, like blackjack, poker, craps, but I try to find that edge on sports books,” Wooden explained.
Nebraska’s journey into casino gambling began in 2020 when voters approved such activities at horse racing tracks. WarHorse Casino in Lincoln became a pioneer by opening its doors in 2022, and by the end of the year, it had generated over $82 million in revenue, with sports betting contributing approximately $3.7 million. This success was part of a wider boom in the state’s casino industry, which saw record revenues as reported in a report.
Although sports betting is still a minor segment of the casino’s overall business, efforts are underway to introduce mobile sports betting this fall. Currently, sports wagers can only be placed in person, even though the practice is gaining traction nationwide, especially among the 18 to 29 age group, according to a 2025 Pew Research Center study.
Wooden noted a prevalent trend among his peers: “Most of the people that I know are saying, yes, yeah, I’m probably putting some money on someone to win, someone to win by this much, or someone to score a touchdown or score a certain amount of points.”
UNL Campus Recreation indicates that about 75% of college students have placed a sports bet in the past year, with 18% engaging in this activity weekly. The motivations range from social interactions to financial gains.
“For the majority of people, it’s definitely for social, and that’s I think definitely a lot of the sports books, and especially a lot of the ads that you see on TV with sports books, they’re pandering more to the social scene,” Wooden added.
While Wooden files taxes on his winnings, making him an exception, most bettors don’t see long-term profits. Studies suggest that fewer than 5% of sports bettors consistently win.
Aaron Duncan, a UNL communications professor specializing in the Rhetoric of Sports and Games, highlights the potential for addiction in sports betting. “You hear stories about people betting on, you know, ping pong matches in Russia, or because they’re up in the middle of the night and there are no American sports at 2 a.m. to gamble on, so they’re gambling on things overseas that they have no idea about,” Duncan pointed out. “If you’re addicted to your phone and you’re addicted to gambling, we’re now multiplying addictions.”
Duncan argues that physical casinos offer more inherent safeguards than mobile betting platforms. “At least with the casino, there’s a lot more safeguards just sort of inherently built into a physical experience, and casinos should have responsible gambling limits and things like that,” he said.
Research from the Milken Institute in 2023 reveals that states requiring in-person sports betting, like Nebraska, see average bets below $100, whereas mobile betting states average closer to $1,000.
The National Council on Problem Gambling defines problem gambling as behavior that disrupts personal and professional life.
Wooden likens gambling to other potentially risky activities: “When you’re drinking alcohol or doing drugs, like, okay, a little bit of it can be fine, but if you do it too much, then that’s where it starts to become a problem. Like, same thing happens with gambling.”
The Nebraska Collegiate Prevention Alliance, which includes 26 universities and colleges, has traditionally focused on alcohol and drug education but is now shifting toward understanding gambling among students.
UNL’s assistant director of alcohol and drug education, Jon Gayer, observes a casual attitude among students regarding gambling. “I think sports betting, especially with our college students, it doesn’t have the stigma that maybe alcohol or even cannabis does, right? It’s freely talked about amongst friends in public,” he stated.
To better understand student attitudes, the alliance has incorporated five new questions on sports betting into the Nebraska Assessment of College Health Behaviors survey, and results are expected soon. Additionally, questions are being added to the Year One College Behavior Profile to assess incoming students’ understanding of various behaviors, including gambling.
