Do you feel lucky? 🍀 Lincoln sure does, now that its first casino is up and running! Some may question the moral and ethical nature of gambling but there’s no debate about the money rolling in.💰
Here are Five Fast Facts on the WarHorse Casino:
- 💨 A Fast Start - Just a couple months have passed since its grand opening, but in that time it’s contributed almost $800k to the state’s tax revenues, with $600k of that in October. Very impressive! Just don’t think too much about everyone who lost that money…
- 📈 Big Goals - It is expected that gaming tax revenues will continue to grow as advertising and marketing campaigns take effect. They are on course to make about $100M per year. You can see why they’re excited.
- 🤝 The Compromise - The key to gaining the support of voters in 2020 was to carve out a big chunk of gaming revenue for property tax relief, a consistent complaint around the state. Casinos are required to pay 20% of their revenues in gaming taxes, with most of that (70%) going specifically to the Property Tax Credit Fund. Six casinos (converted from old horse race tracks) are planned and the tax relief from all of them should approach $100M per year.
- ⏳ The Current Situation - WarHorse is currently limited by space, with a max of 433 slot machines and no blackjack or other table games in its temporary location. The full facility won’t be ready for another 18 months. They’ll happily continue to take your money in the meantime.
- 🎉 Looking Ahead - Plans for future expansion include multiple locations, horse racing, thousands of gaming positions, restaurants and a food court, and live/simulcast wagering. Go big or go home, right?
🔥Bottom line: From a Paychecks perspective, this is a great thing! Not only is it providing good short term jobs for all that construction and long term jobs for the new casinos once they’re in operation, but it’s also easing taxpayer pain. There’s nothing about that we don’t like. The downside is that gambling can often impact people negatively by attracting desperate and vulnerable people.
What do you think about casinos in Nebraska? Do you think this is good for our state?
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