WarHorse Casino Omaha at Horsemen’s Park opened to much fanfare on Tuesday.
Gamblers check out the newly opened WarHorse Casino Omaha on Aug. 6, 2024. The Omaha casino is the second permanent gaming property to open in Nebraska. (Image: X)
State and local dignitaries, along with officials of WarHorse Gaming and Ho-Chunk Inc., the commercial economic development arms of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, held a ribbon cutting on Tuesday. About 200 people lined up outside WarHorse Omaha to be among the casino’s first guests.
The tribe partnered with the Nebraska Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) after Nebraskans passed three statewide ballot referendums in 2020 that amended the state constitution to allow Las Vegas-style gambling at the state’s six horse racetracks. WarHorse Gaming is the NHBPA’s gaming developer for its tracks in Omaha, Lincoln, and South Sioux City.
WarHorse Omaha is the partnership’s first permanent casino to open. The 58,000-square-foot facility includes a gaming floor with approximately 800 slot machines, 19 live dealer table games, and a sportsbook.
WarHorse Omaha is located at 6303 Q Street and is open 24/7. Along with the casino, the property includes a round-the-clock full-service restaurant and bar.
WarHorse Omaha was the second permanent casino to open in Nebraska behind Harrah’s Columbus, NE, Racing & Casino, which opened on May 17.
Smoke-Free Gaming
The campaign to encourage Nebraska residents to vote in favor of the three ballot measures that legalized and regulated casino gambling focused on keeping gaming money inside the Cornhusker State. Advocates said millions of dollars a year flowed into neighboring Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas.
More than 70% of Nebraskans live within 60 miles of an out-of-state commercial or tribal casino. Nebraskans were estimated to spend nearly $400M annually at those casinos.
Nebraskans got behind the initiatives and easily passed the three referendum questions. The outcome and subsequent openings of commercial casinos in Nebraska are designed to not only retain gambling revenue losses incurred by Nebraskans in other states, but also poach some play from out-of-state casinos.
Nebraska lawmakers applied the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act to its casino venues, meaning no smoking is allowed anywhere inside the facilities. Smoking is permitted anywhere on casino floors in Iowa and Kansas, and in designated areas in Missouri.
Iowa’s Council Bluffs casinos stand to be most impacted by WarHorse Casino Omaha. Council Bluffs is home to three casinos — Ameristar, Harrah’s, and Horseshoe.
The casino industry continues to maintain that smoking bans are bad for business. But with smoking rates continuing to decline nationwide, and more awareness about the dangers of secondhand smoke being known, smoking opponents argue that smoke-free casinos often outpace smoking venues in terms of gaming revenue.
For Nebraska smokers looking to gamble, Ho-Chunk says it will open an outdoor gaming patio next spring with 400 slots where smoking will be allowed.
WarHorse Lincoln Next
With Omaha up and running, WarHorse Gaming turns its attention to finishing construction at WarHorse Casino Lincoln.
A similarly sized investment, the tribe’s Lincoln casino will feature fewer games with about 400 slots and a sportsbook. No live dealer games are currently planned. WarHorse Lincoln, however, will open with a 220-room hotel and an events center.
The bulk of the Nebraska population resides in the eastern part of the state in Douglas, Lancaster, and Sarpy counties. Those three counties account for more than 1.11 million people in the state that’s home to 1.9 million.
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