Even though it has just two small casinos, Nebraska is in the center of a group of established casino states including Iowa, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and South Dakota.

Iowa, Oklahoma, Colorado and South Dakota have tribal casinos, Colorado and South Dakota have small-stakes casinos and Iowa and Arkansas have riverboat casinos. Iowa also has racetrack casinos.

In other words, Nebraska is another frontier for the Las Vegas casino industry. Coast Casinos Inc. has spent at least the past two years lobbying for casinos in Nebraska, while Venetian resort owner Las Vegas Sands entered the fray more recently. Both companies have Nebraska connections but are backing separate casino petitions. Coast Chief Executive Michael Gaughan is a Creighton University graduate whose father ran bookmaking operations in Nebraska, while Venetian lobbyist Andy Abboud is a Nebraska native, University of Nebraska grad and former director of the state's Republican Party.

Neither petition would guarantee that either Coast or Venetian would obtain a license to open a casino in Nebraska. That leaves the nagging question as to why the companies wouldn't pool their resources and lobbying muscle to press for more gambling.

In spite of granting frequent interviews to the Nebraska press several months ago, both companies have recently become tight-lipped about their interest in Nebraska. The Venetian and Boyd Gaming Corp., which has taken over the cause from Coast, declined to comment.

Other companies are standing on the sidelines while their competitors take flack from a vocal anti-casino coalition including religious groups and small businesses.

Some experts say the state is a long shot. It's barely on the radar screen for slot companies such as International Game Technology and Alliance Gaming Corp. -- it's just one of a long list of states where casinos have been considered for years without success and where the campaign is too volatile to handicap. Even the chief executive of Harrah's Entertainment Inc. -- one of the most aggressive consolidators in the industry and its most geographically diverse -- has said the company isn't active in the state and that the latest round of casino plans doesn't look likely.

Harrah's has its own reasons to steer clear of the debate, as it owns a casino and racetrack casino across the border in Iowa and would have the most of the gaming giants to lose if more casinos were allowed in Nebraska.

Nebraska law requires residents to vote on changes to the state's constitution, which prohibits casinos and "games of chance."

Coast Casinos is backing a petition that would allow two casinos on the waterfront in Omaha and 4,900 slot and video poker machines in keno parlors and racetracks throughout the state.

A second petition, crafted by the Nebraska Legislature and supported by the Venetian, proposes two casinos to be built anywhere in the state.

The second petition was quickly crafted by lawmakers after it "looked like our petition drive was going to forward," said Julia Plucker, Coast's Nebraska lobbyist.

The Coast action committee, called "Keep the Money in Nebraska," also includes representatives of the state's horseracing industry, keno operators and other companies that stand to gain.

The coalition has argued that tax revenue is going to nearby Iowa, where the three largest casinos in the region are located.

"That argument doesn't resonate," said Pat Loontjer, director of the anti-casino group Gambling with the Good Life.

"They play the greed game against us" because unemployment is low and the state isn't in need of casino jobs, she said. "Our coalition is building and building every day. They don't have a coalition. All they've got is gambling interests."

That coalition now includes such luminaries as Republican Congressman and former Cornhuskers football coach Tom Osborne, investment guru Warren Buffet as well as businesses and "virtually every religious denomination in the state," she said.

Recent filings with Nebraska's elections division show that the Coast coalition has raised $1.26 million against Gambling with the Good Life's $79,000.

James Trudell, economic development planner for the Santee Sioux tribe in Nebraska, said he still thinks a casino initiative will pass this year.

That's because Nebraskans already are traveling to places like South Dakota and Iowa to gamble, he said.

"I think you have a few people speaking for the rest of the state," Trudell said of the anti-casino group. "They want to legislate morality."

At Harrah's Council Bluffs casino in nearby Iowa, "almost every car in that parking lot has Nebraska plates. It's the same in South Dakota. People are going to gamble anyway," he said.

Legislative petition proposals have twice come within one vote of making the ballot in recent years.

"It's just a matter of time."

If either of the petitions passes, any of Nebraska's three tribes would benefit because federal law allows tribes to offer the same kind of gambling that is already legal in the state, Trudell said.

Approval of Las Vegas-style gambling in Nevada would clear the way for the tribes to install regular slot machines in addition their current bingo-like devices.

Liz Benston covers gaming and tourism for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-4077 or by e-mail at benston@lasvegassun.com