”
This represented a large investment for us,” Ho-Chunk CEO Lance Morgan told The Journal. “I think it’s going to be a huge deal for Nebraska.”
Ho-Chunk, the economic development corporation for the Winnebago Tribe, this week formed a new entity, called WarHorse Gaming LCC, to manage the new casinos at tracks in South Sioux City, Omaha and Lincoln, Morgan said as the election returns came in.
Nebraska voters solidly approved Las Vegas-style gambling at the state’s horse tracks on Tuesday. Nearly 65 percent of voters approved three ballot initiatives that would amend the state’s constitution to permit casinos at the six licensed horse tracks, and devote some of the revenue to property tax relief and local governments.
“You don’t get more of a mandate than 65-70 percent on something,” Morgan said. “For it to come through, with all the hurdles is a huge deal.”
Ho-Chunk, which owns Atokad Park in South Sioux City, joined with the Nebraska Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association to collect enough signatures to place the measures on Tuesday’s ballot after a similar effort failed two years ago.
The horseman’s group also will partner with Ho-Chunk’s WarHorse Gaming, which will manage the new casinos at the three tracks.
If all goes well, construction is expected to begin next spring, Morgan said. The Lincoln and Omaha tracks, which already have facilities, could start offering casino gambling about six months later, he said. Morgan said it likely would take around nine months to open a casino at Atokad, where there currently is only a track.
More live racing dates will be added at each track as part of expanded gambling, he said. Most years, Ho-Chunk has held just one date of living racing at Atokad, the minimum required to maintain a state license.
“It’s going to be a real boom for the racing industry and really rural Nebraska,” he said.
Atokad, which thrived in the 1960s and 1970s, fell on hard times after riverboat gambling opened across the Missouri River in Iowa. The track was shuttered when Ho-Chunk purchased the property in 2016.
Ho-Chunk moved forward with plans for a casino in Dakota County after losing its bid in 2013 to open a casino on the Iowa side of the Missouri River.
Ho-Chunk and the Winnebago Tribe were the majority investors in a $122 million casino and entertainment proposal that featured the historic Warrior Hotel in downtown Sioux City. The Warrior group was one of four bidders for Woodbury County’s first land-based gaming license. In a split vote, state regulators awarded the license instead to a group developing the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City.
“We tried it before and it failed, and we’ve back at it,” Morgan said. “We learned a lot along the way and we spent a lot of money to do this.”
Ho-Chunk estimates the new Atokad casino would capture 25 to 30 percent of the competitive gaming market in Siouxland, which includes WinnaVegas Casino Resort, owned by the Winnebago Tribe on its land near Sloan, Iowa.
