The temporary casino at Fonner Park thoroughbred horse racetrack in Grand Island, Nebraska, could open this fall, said Fonner Park Chief Executive Officer Chris Kotulak. He said, “I would expect a temporary casino facility to be in operation before the end of 2022 but probably not until closer to October. There are many variables that are out of our control.”
Kotulak added, if Fonner isn’t offering casino gaming a year from now, “something dreadful has taken place. That means that the 70 percent of Nebraskans that voted for casino gaming did not get what they voted for” in November 2020.
Elite Casino Resorts of Iowa, the operator of gaming at Fonner Park, will build the temporary casino on the Fonner Park campus. It will offer 200 slots, blackjack, roulette and craps and include a small restaurant and bar area. Kotulak said the venue “will look and feel like a casino, just a small one. We don’t want to shortchange our guests with an inferior environment or experience.”
He noted construction on the permanent casino facility, to be called the Grand Island Casino Resort at Fonner Park, will start after this year’s Nebraska State Fair and is expected to be completed in 2025. The venue will feature more than 600 slots. When it’s completed, the temporary casino will be used for storage.
Kotulak said a percentage of gross gaming revenue will go toward purse money for horsemen, which is bound to increase. “I’m hopeful that in a year or two our purses will have doubled what they are today,” he said.
