He said he expects a temporary facility to open in Omaha next year. Morgan said the Lincoln casino will operate in a temporary facility until a new one is completed in about 18 months. We could not be more excited.' She said the Lincoln racetrack would expand from running one racing day per year to between 60 and 80. 'We’re going to come back as when Aksarben was one of the top 10 tracks in the country. “It’s going to totally revitalize our industry,' she said. Lynne McNally of the Nebraska Horsemen predicted they would turn horseracing around. Nebraska voters authorized casinos at the state’s racetracks in 2020.
But I know tomorrow, we’ll open up and things’ll get going.' The capital of Nebraska Territory had been Omaha since the creation of the territory in 1854 however, most of the territorys population lived south of the Platte River. Lincoln was founded in 1856 as the village of Lancaster, and became the county seat of the newly created Lancaster County in 1859.
We’ve worked on it for years, and to see it come to fruition it’s almost surreal. Lincolns 2010 Census population was 258,379. And so we’re really proud to be a part of it. 'There’s never been a casino that Nebraska’s ever had. “I realize that today is a historic moment,' he said. The Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission approved the first casino license in state history Friday, paving the way for the WarHorse Casino to open in Lincoln on Saturday.įriday’s vote was unanimous, with Commissioners Tony Fulton, Shane Greckel, Shelby Bakenhus, Janell Beveridge, Jeffrey Galyen, and Chairman Dennis Lee all voting for the license, after which the meeting room burst into applause.Īfter the vote, Lance Morgan, President and CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc., WarHorse’s parent company, reflected on its significance.
