The first full year of casino gambling in Nebraska was a triumph in terms of profits raised.
Revenue raised by Lincoln’s WarHorse Casino:
As for the details of the income collected, The one from Nebraska 4 casinos on the track generated almost 8.9 million dollars of income in the last month of 2023, which represents the second consecutive monthly record. Furthermore, it ended a year in which profits generated by sports betting, table games and slot machines were equal just over 89 million dollars.
Most of that money, $51.5 millionwas raised by WarHorse Casino in Lincoln. The total amount consisted of $1.3 million from sports betting and $50.2 million from slots.
About this, Vice President of Marketing at WarHorse, Pietro Graziano commented that officials of the said casino are satisfied with the 2023 revenue figures. He added: “We are very pleased with the results we have seen so far.”
He also commented that when the casino officially opened its doors in September 2 years ago, WarHorse was aware of it gambling in casinos He was in high demand in the state. However, they weren’t sure what to expect.
Lincoln’s WarHorse Casino Planned Expansion:
With the casino performing well in 2023, WarHorse now has other things on its mind. The main one is the expansion, which was planned for this current year. In this regard, Graziano commented that the company hopes to have it expanded casino business will officially open sometime during the fourth quarter of 2024.
Once finished, it will be more than Double the entire size of the casino space, increasing the initial number of slot machines, from 425 to 800, and officially adding ten table games. Commenting on this, he commented: “We’re really looking forward to it.”
However, the 2024 expansion will not involve a hotel, official construction of which will begin shortly, following the completion of the aforementioned expansion project. In addition to the expansion, work continues unabated on the 7-mile racecourse, Legacy Downs at WarHorsewhich is expected to be fully completed at a later date during 2024. In this regard, Graziano said: “We think there will be some live racing later this year.”
While WarHorse hasn’t opened a temporary casino in Omaha, it has managed to open one sports betting window TO Knights’ Park in November, which he managed to collect nearly $224,000a total sum for November and December.
Revenue collected by Grand Island Casino and Resort:
Another casino that contributed heavily to the state casino income was the Grand Island Casino and Resortwhich was also officially open for the duration of 2023 and managed to pick up almost 30 million dollars in income. Most of this, $27.8 millionwas earned by slots, followed by regular table games, $730,000and electronic board games, $1.1 million.
Along with all this, the aforementioned casino also almost cashed out $245,000 from sport bets.
Commenting on the results, the general manager of the casino, Vincenzo Fialacommented that the total results for 2023 exceeded their original projections. It was a game changer when they added the file sport bets AND table games to casino offers in 2023.
In relation, he said: “The expansion of our pop-up casino has been a success for operations and our guests.”
Furthermore, the construction of the permanent resort and casino It’s going well, although the recent cold weather has managed to slow down the progress a bit. However, the plan is to officially open the aforementioned permanent casino during the first quarter of 2025.
Other revenue contributors:
Among other contributors, there were 2 other state-owned racetrack gambling operations which only ran for part of 2023.
Then there was a temporary period Harrah’s Casino TO Ag Park In Columbusopened by Caesar’s Entertainment during mid-June. Open for six and a half months, it has managed to generate almost 7.4 million dollars in income. As soon as more than 7 million dollars was collected from slot machines, while the rest of the total amount was collected from electronic table games. But the official sports betting of the said casino is not yet open.
Likewise, Caesars is currently building the new casino and racetrack at the new site which is located northwest of the city, which is expected to formally open later in 2024.
Taxes:
Of the total amount generated by Nebraska’s 4 horseracing casinos in 2023, or $89 million, nearly $17.8 million went to casino taxesof which almost $12.5 million, 70%it was destined to state property tax credit fund.
In this sense, the counties and cities have achieved 25% of the taxwhich was almost $4.5 million. Lancaster County and the City of Lincoln Almost $1.3 million in casino taxes from the WarHorse Casino in Lincoln. And finally, the Assistance fund for compulsive gamblers and the state general fund almost received $445,000 eachsecond The Lincoln Newspaper Star.
