The North Platte, Nebraska city council recently voted 5-4 for a conditional use permit allowing a horse racetrack and future casino, to be located between the two Interstate 80 exits. The vote followed two hours of public comment and council debate. Mayor Brandon Kelliher cast the deciding vote.
North Platte Exposition and Racing Inc., owned by Hastings quarter horse owner and racetrack operator Brian Becker, would develop the venue. Plans include a 5/8-mile oval track and a 40,000-square-foot casino with 650 electronic games, 10 table games, race simulcasting, sportsbook, and restaurant, bar and gift shop. Prospect Enterprises LLC will sell its 70-plus-acre site on East Walker Road to Becker’s group for the North Platte venue.
Attorney and member of the investor group board, Brian Jorde, said the racino would attract an estimated 1.7 million people to North Platte annually, with 33 percent from out of state. He said the racino would create up to 275 jobs with an annual payroll in excess of $5 million per year. In addition, Becker’s group has committed 10 percent of revenues to go to quarter horse race breeders.
Jorde noted it would take two years to build the track and hold the first race, followed by building the casino, which he said would produce $1.4 million in new taxes for the city plus an equal amount for Lincoln County, and $8 million a year for the state’s property tax relief fund. Becker’s group has said it will pay for all infrastructure costs for the casino.
Becker’s group also proposed a similar track and casino in Gering under the name Scottsbluff Exposition and Racing Inc. and also plans to add a casino at Hastings.
Kelliher was challenged about the societal costs of a casino but responded individuals have free will and must take personal responsibility for their actions..
Becker and his partners presented their applications for horseracing licenses at North Platte and Gering to the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission on July 16. The commission will meet again on September 21 but Executive Director Tom Sage said the applications will not be on the agenda.
Nebraska voters approved three gambling initiatives last November, including allowing six racinos to be operated licensed horse racetracks. The Racing and Gaming Commission must approve separate licenses for horseracing and then the casino. Existing tracks are Fonner Park in Grand Island, Horsemen’s Park in Omaha, Lincoln Race Course, FairPlay Park in Hastings, Ag Park in Columbus and Atokad in South Sioux City.
Becker has run a 1-day quarter horse meet at Hastings since 2004. He said a casino there is necessary to build a viable long-term horse track. His group plans to start a 1-day quarter horse meet at North Platte and Gering. In time, Becker said, 30-day meets will be run at all three racetracks.
The venue would be operated by Global Gaming Solutions, owned by the Chickasaw Nation and operators of 24 facilities. GGS spokesman Shawn Boyd said the North Platte racetrack would be built to the highest standards, located in the center of the central states with thousands of potential quarter horse racehorses. “You’ll have the competitive advantage,” he said.
Ed Zumba of the Nebraska Quarter Horse Racing Association said, “We love our horses in Nebraska. We’ve been underserved in western Nebraska, there is nothing here.” He added, “I’ve known the Beckers for a long time. If Brian Becker looks at something and says he’s going to do it, it will be done properly and professionally.”
Less than enthusiastic about the potential new racinos is Fonner Park Chief Executive Officer Chris Kotulak. Regarding the North Platte racetrack, he said, “If there isn’t a grave concern yet, there should be a grave concern about over-saturation of casinos. The best way to dilute and ruin the best potential for revenue is to oversaturate. And I am not shortsighted enough to think that there won’t be additional racetrack licenses granted in order to pave the way for casinos. But I believe there’s enough integrity and wisdom in our Racing and Gaming Commission and among our senators to be very cautious in any new license for racing applications that would be approved.”
State Senator Ray Aguilar of Grand Island said if more than six casinos were built, he would be “very concerned that you’re going to saturate the market and make things difficult for existing tracks.”
Aguilar said he recently met with Nebraska horse breeders who are concerned about the future. He said the breeders told him “there are not enough horses to go around” to comply with state regulations if more tracks are approved. “I think the majority of the legislature would agree with me and probably vote accordingly, to make sure that that’s the way it stays.”
