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Until now, people interested in the Nebraska casino industry have had to just guess which of the three facilities produced the most revenue. The time for such hypothesizing is over, thanks to the Nebraska Racing & Gaming Commission (NRGC).
For the first time, the NRGC has shared revenue figures from each casino for a month. While those numbers currently exist on an island, they form an extremely small data set that confirms expectations.
October brings first Nebraska casino revenue report
Through September 2023, the NRGC only shared tax figures on the state’s three brick-and-mortar commercial “racinos.” A racino is a track that offers live horse racing, gambling upon such races and other gambling-like slots and table games.
Prior monthly reports included a total from casino gaming at each active property and a breakdown of how the state would distribute those funds. They also listed how much each racino contributed.
They did not include the actual revenue figures for each track, though.
From the tax numbers, it was possible to roughly determine how much revenue each racino claimed during the month. Nebraska assesses a 20% privilege fee upon their monthly gambling win.
Thus, it was pretty simple math since the NRGC did share each facility’s tax payments. The NRGC has made performing that equation unnecessary now, though.
October’s monthly update from the NRGC is the first to include the exact revenue figures for each property. It also includes a breakdown of that win at each racino by gaming vertical (slots, sports betting, table games, etc.).
There are no surprises in the official numbers.
Official figures confirm expectations
Racinos in Nebraska continue to show that they are very similar to their counterparts across the United States in many ways.
The majority of casino gaming win came from slot play. Win from slot activity represented 93.4% of casino revenue during October in Nebraska.
Another expectation that the official numbers confirm is that population density matters for gaming revenue. Warhorse Gaming’s facility in Lincoln accounted for 54.1% of the over $7.7 million in win from slots, sports betting, and table games in Nebraska during October.
Warhorse Lincoln accordingly provided the same percentage of the over $1.5 million in gaming taxes for the month. Lincoln is Nebraska’s second-most populous city according to World Atlas.
The other Nebraska cities with an active racino, Grand Island and Columbus, rank fourth and 10th respectively, in terms of population.
Moving forward, Nebraskans will have more information to gauge the health of their local racinos. The first report with the additional data shows that the three tracks are performing according to expectations.
