Nebraska's WarHorse Casino Omaha gets approval for August 6 opening

The WarHorse Casino in Omaha on Friday received the green light from state gaming regulators to open for business on August 6th and operate 24 hours a day. Members of the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission voted unanimously to set the opening date and the hours of operation, pending some last-minute compliance checks.

WarHorse Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lance Morgan said the vote was “a pretty seminal moment for the gaming industry in Nebraska, for sure, and for the Winnebago Tribe," the Omaha World-Herald reported.

“In some ways, I’ve been working on this for about 30 years,” said Morgan, who is also CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc., the business arm of the Winnebago Tribe. “And so it’s almost hard to believe. A little surreal. But I can’t wait to actually see it open. And then, like anything else, we’ll just get to the next phase and the next phase and keep it growing.”

The casino at 63rd and Q Streets is the first state-sanctioned casino in Omaha, built by Ho-Chunk Inc. through a partnership with the Nebraska Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association after state voters in 2020 approved gaming tied to racetracks.

Commission Chairman Denny Lee described the opening as "historic," as per the Omaha World-Herald report. He said that it is exciting to be opening a “really neat” new casino in the state’s largest city. Paired with the Horsemen’s Park Thoroughbred track, the casino will open with 925 gaming positions, table games, and a Sweetwater Cafe.

A second phase is expected to open next spring, with more than 400 additional positions, a smoking area, and additional dining options. WarHorse already offers a sportsbook and simulcast horse racing in a temporary facility at the Omaha site, both of which will be moved into the new casino. 

Although the casino will open soon, horse racing will take another year to get going in earnest. The track at Horsemen’s Park will hold only one race day this year on September 29th, which is the state minimum. According to company officials, the ongoing construction will prevent holding more race days this year.

The casino will be the state’s second so-called racino to open a permanent facility in Nebraska. Harrah’s Columbus opened in May, while the new Warhorse Casino in Lincoln, under construction adjacent to the temporary facility, is likely to open in a permanent capacity on November 1st. In Grand Island, the new $100 million casino at Grand Island Casino Resort is slated to open in the first quarter of 2025.

Advocates of expanded Nebraska gambling have long argued that the state is losing potential revenue to casinos across the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, which include Ameristar, Harrah’s, and Horseshoe Council Bluffs.

With a casino in Omaha, advocates say, Nebraskans will no longer have to cross the river to gamble, with local casinos contributing to property tax relief via the 20% tax on gross gaming revenue greenlighted by voters when they approved the casinos.

Seventy percent of the tax revenue goes to the state’s Property Tax Credit Cash Fund. The county where the racetrack is located gets 25%, and if the racetrack is located partially within a city or a village, the county and city or village split it. The remaining 5% is split between the state’s general fund and the Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund.

In the first six months of 2024, the gaming tax on Nebraska’s casinos, most of which were still in temporary facilities, generated more than $10.56 million in revenue, according to the gambling commission. As per records, slots and other electronic gaming devices are responsible for the vast majority of that revenue.