WarHorse plans casino expansion in Lincoln, begins designing South Sioux City facility

Nebraska’s largest casino operator is expanding its facilities once more, thanks in part to its refinancing of $300 million in startup loans.

Since Nebraskans voted to legalize casino gambling at racetracks in 2020, WarHorse Gaming – a wing of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska’s economic development corporation, Ho Chunk Inc. – has taken full advantage.

WarHorse currently operates casinos in Lincoln and Omaha, and a new location is being planned for South Sioux City.

CEO Lance Morgan said the ability to refinance startup loans at a lower interest rate shows investor confidence and will help the operation continue to grow.

“It increases the cash flow pretty significantly, and it gives us the ability to self-fund the growth in Lincoln and the new facility in South Sioux City, but it mostly just saves us a lot of money,” he said.

The Lincoln casino expansion is slated to add an additional 70,000 to 80,000 square feet of table games, slot machines and a new sports bar and restaurant. Construction of the $70 million addition is expected to begin in the spring.

“I think that's what people expect when they go to a casino,” Morgan said. “It'll have the elements of much more of a big Vegas facility where you can have a lot more fun and entertainment.”

Morgan said the expansion had always been part of the plan for the Lincoln casino, but market factors influenced WarHorse to take a phased approach the project.

“When we were building these facilities, we were coming out of COVID, interest rates were high, inflation was out of control, and so we had to be somewhat cautious,” he said.

WarHorse already owns the horseracing track in South Sioux City – a necessary component to operating a casino in Nebraska – and Morgan said the location of the new facility there can help take market share from across the river in Iowa.

“Iowa’s done, really a number on the Winnebago tribe over the years in terms of impacting us, and so I think it's going to be great to impact the casino in Iowa for a change,” Morgan said.

He also said South Sioux City’s proximity to the Winnebago reservation could help employ more tribal members.

In addition to casino expansions, WarHorse is working on plans for a ballot initiative to legalize sports betting. The company is partnering with major players in the industry including DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM to help collect signatures for a petition drive.

But Morgan said he’d prefer the state legislature pass legislation of its own to legalize the practice.

“Sometimes if you have outside companies doing it, you may not get exactly what you want and you lose a little bit of control,” he said. “The state legislature has an opportunity to see if they can put it on the ballot themselves. It’d be a lot easier, a lot cleaner.”

A proposed constitutional amendment was debated in the Unicameral in April, but its sponsor said it was one vote short of overcoming a filibuster and decided to pass it over without taking a vote. The legislation could be taken up again next year, and if passed, it would be up to voters to approve it with a simple majority in November.

“I don't see a scenario where next November it's not going to be on the ballot,” Morgan said. “Our polling shows mid to high 60s (percent), depending where you are, in terms of approval for it.”