A County Keno Lottery was overwhelmingly approved by Cass County voters earlier this month and now county officials are studying the options.

County Clerk Barb Wohlers told the Cassgram she has visited with County Attorney Nathan Cox and has been in contact with Hall County, a Nebraska county with an active keno operation. The state has forwarded a binder containing rules and regulations.

Big Red Keno has already sent a letter of request to Cass County.

The vote of 7,479 for the lottery and 3,914 against surprised District 1 Commissioner John Baroni who said he had doubts it would even pass.

If a lottery is implemented, he offered "some food for thought" that the county consider taking the maximum of 14% and earmark a percentage to help rescue departments in the county. Baroni added though, "I don’t know if this is going to amount to very much money."

A check of the city/county gaming activity reports shows there are 13 Nebraska counties with keno compared to just over 125 Nebraska cities with the game. Sarpy County’s total wagering was over $2.3 million in the last year. Hall County was the highest among counties with over $6.3 million wagered in the last year.