Atokad Park in South Sioux City, Nebraska plans to move to another location in the city so the track can be expanded and a casino can be added.
Lance Morgan, chief executive officer at Atokad owner Ho-Chunk, the economic development arm of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, said no location or timeline have been determined. Morgan stated, “We’re probably going to get a new location with a bigger track. We don’t have enough room here.”
Currently, Atokad Park has a candy-cane-shaped track about three furlongs long, that would be replaced by a circular, 5/8-mile track with a grandstand, plus the casino. Previously the venue had a 5/8-mile track and a large covered grandstand, not the bleacher seats it has now.
The racetrack recently held its 1-day event with a total of three races despite chances of thunderstorms. Unlike last year, when festivities were banned due to Covid-19, organizers offered kids’ activities, a dining room tent and best-hat contest.
Ho-Chunk was a major supporter of three ballot measures approved by Nebraska voters last year, allowing casinos at the state’s six licensed racetracks. State officials are processing gaming license applications but haven’t issued any yet.
Morgan said Ho-Chunk and its casino subsidiary, WarHorse Gaming, are moving forward on planned racinos in Omaha and Lincoln. He noted the Sioux City metro area “is a very crowded gaming market,” between the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Sioux City and the many smaller casinos in North Sioux City, plus WinnaVegas in Sloan, Blackbird Bend in Onawa and the Grand Falls Casino & Golf Resort in Larchwood, Iowa.
Morgan said as a result, “the bankers aren’t excited” about financing yet another casino in the Sioux City area. “It’s put South Sioux a little on the back-burner. We’ve had some trouble getting all the land and all the plans coordinated here, but my guess is Omaha and Lincoln will be a priority, and then South Sioux. We’ll fund it internally from the money we make from Omaha and Lincoln if we have to,” Morgan said.
He added, once Omaha and Lincoln’s casinos are up and running, they could have 100 race days a year between them. Lynne McNally, executive vice president of the Nebraska Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, stated she’d like to see 100 racing days a year just at the Lincoln Race Course.
McNally said racetracks and casinos make a perfect pair because the racetrack attracts gamblers and casino revenue helps underwrite horseracing. She said, “Rather than pay for an act to come in and play on the stage, we bring the crowd there on our own, with racing. And so, hopefully those race fans will wander over to the casino, and vice versa.”
WarHorse is expected to invest up to $300 million into the Omaha and Lincoln casinos. Those two casinos “will double Ho-Chunk in size. We’re not doing it because we think it’s going to fail,” Morgan said.
