Three temporary casinos so farĬurrently, temporary casinos are open at racetracks in Lincoln, Grand Island and Columbus, with a temporary casino slated to open in Omaha next year. Huge jackpots topping $1 billion, Rockey said, drove the increase in lottery ticket sales. Unaudited sales figures for the Nebraska Lottery show a 9% increase in sales for the 2022-23 fiscal year over the previous year, powered mostly by an almost doubling of sales for MegaMillions tickets and a 17% rise in Powerball ticket sales.

“We haven’t seen it yet, but we’re kind of waiting,” he said. In other states, it has typically meant a 10% decline in lottery sales. Rockey, though, said lottery officials are bracing for an impact once permanent casinos are up and running in Nebraska. Lincoln, he said, is likely to see a bigger impact now from casino gambling because it is farther away from Council Bluffs and other legalized casinos.īrian Rockey, director of the Nebraska Lottery, said there might be another explanation for the second quarter downturn in charitable wagering: April, May and June traditionally show a decline in wagering over January, February and March because people are spending less time indoors, in places that sell pickle cards and offer keno lotteries. Harvey said keno parlors in the Omaha area also saw a decrease in betting when the first riverboat gambling casinos opened across the Missouri River in Iowa in 1991. Omaha also saw a 10% decline in the second quarter compared to January, February and March, and Norfolk saw a 17% decline. (Courtesy of WarHorse)Ĭharitable gaming was down 10% in the Capital City during the second quarter of 2023 compared to the first quarter, and it was 11% less than the same period a year ago.

For now, a temporary casino serves customers. A $200 million casino is planned at the Lincoln Race Course by WarHorse, a subsidiary of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. The biggest impact has been in Lincoln, where the state’s first legalized casino, the WarHorse Casino, opened 11 months ago. It was 2% less than the same three months (April, May and June) in 2022.īill Harvey of Big Red Keno said the decrease can be summed up in one word: “casinos.” ‘Not suprising’ LINCOLN - The opening of gambling casinos in Lincoln, Grand Island and Columbus is starting to make an impact on other forms of legalized gambling, and the full impact may be yet to come, officials said.Ī quarterly report this week on charitable gambling in the state indicated that betting on keno, pickle cards, bingo and local raffles was down 10.6% from the previous quarter.

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