Prospect Enterprises requires approval by North Platte city and the Racing and Gaming Commission
P
rospect Enterprises is seeking a city conditional use permit for a horse track “and associated improvements” on 74 acres between I-80 and East Walker Road.
North Platte city officials will be asked to allow a horse racing track, Nebraska’s first west of Grand Island, to be built south of Interstate 80 between the city’s two interchanges.
Approval by the city and the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission would allow the track’s developers to pursue casino gambling there under a trio of petition initiatives approved last November by Nebraska voters, according to The North Platte Telegraph.
The planning commission will hold a public hearing and offer a recommendation on June 22, with another hearing and a final vote by the City Council on July 6, Planning Administrator Judy Clark stated Monday.
Clark and Alan Erickson of North Platte, the site’s current owners and Prospect’s registered agents, said Prospect would sell the property to Hastings horse racing interests organizing as North Platte Exposition & Racing.
Prospect Enterprises’ permit application doesn’t refer to casinos but says the track “will generate traffic that may need lodging, restaurants, truck/auto, agriculture needs, repair, service and replacement.”
The Racing and Gaming Commission would have to approve the project’s racetrack license and the types of racing allowed, such as races of Thoroughbreds, quarter horses or other types such as harness racing. Should the track’s owners want to also offer gaming and horse race simulcasting, they would need separate licenses for those from the state commission.
