Nebraska § 2-1221 - Accepting anything of value to be wagered, transmitted, or delivered for wager; delivering off-track wagers; prohibited; penalty.

§ 2-1221. Accepting anything of value to be wagered, transmitted, or delivered for wager; delivering off-track wagers; prohibited; penalty.

Except as provided in section 2-1207, whoever directly or indirectly accepts anything of value to be wagered or to be transmitted or delivered for wager in any parimutuel system of wagering on horseraces or delivers anything of value which has been received outside of the enclosure of a racetrack holding a race meet licensed under sections 2-1201 to 2-1247 to be placed as wagers in the parimutuel pool within such enclosure shall be guilty of a Class I misdemeanor.

A racetrack messenger service, whether or not it actually engages in gambling, is so intertwined with gambling that it falls within the state's plenary police power to regulate gaming activity. Pegasus of Omaha, Inc. v. State, 203 Neb. 755, 280 N.W.2d 64 (1979).

Prohibition by the Legislature of operation of a racetrack messenger service bears a reasonable relationship to the legitimate state interest in the regulation of gambling. No constitutional provision renders such prohibition unlawful. Pegasus of Omaha, Inc. v. State, 203 Neb. 755, 280 N.W.2d 64 (1979).

This statute regulates commercial and business affairs of the state and, therefore, must be held valid under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment because it does bear a rational relation to a legitimate state objective. Nebraska Messenger Services Ass'n v. Thone, 611 F.2d 250 (8th Cir. 1979).

This section only prohibits messenger services which deliver wagers to the race track for a fee; it does not prevent reasonable use of the messenger service's property. Therefore, the prohibitory effect of this section is not sufficient to render it an unconstitutional taking under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Nebraska Messenger Services Ass'n v. Thone, 478 F.Supp. 1036 (D. Neb. 1979).

Under this section, the state may prohibit any person from placing monies of another into a parimutuel wagering pool for a fee, and since this does not involve a "fundamental right", but rather is a regulation of commercial and business affairs of the state and since the state has some rational basis, this section is not invalid under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution. Nebraska Messenger Services Ass'n v. Thone, 478 F.Supp. 1036 (D. Neb. 1979).