Nebraska Casino Opens State’s First Poker Room

Poker players in Nebraska have reason to celebrate.

The state’s first live poker room opened last week at Grand Island Casino Resort in Grand Island, located about 90 miles west of Lincoln and 150 miles from Omaha.

The room features six tables and is open 24 hours a day. Grand Island is the state’s fourth casino since Nebraska legalized gambling at the state’s horse tracks in 2020.

The property is now the first in the state to cater to poker players and comes after the $185 million property officially opened on April 10. Nebraska has three other casinos, but none of those have a poker room, and Grand Island management believes there is some real demand among players that the property can meet.

“We know it’ll be a very popular room because we’ve been getting questions about it since the day we opened the (temporary) casino back in 2020,” Elite Casino Resorts Regional Vice President Sharon Haselhoff said at the room’s official opening last week.

The Grand Island temporary casino was also the first in the state to offer table games. The new property is expected to add significant employment for the area, and city officials were pleased to see the project completed.

“The Grand Island Casino Resort represents more than just a new attraction,” Grand Island Mayor Roger Steele said. “It symbolizes our continued growth and vitality, with more than 400 new jobs being created.

“This isn’t just a win for entertainment. It’s a win for families, for careers and for the future of our workforce right here in Grand Island. These new jobs come with opportunities for hard-working Nebraskans, and they offer long-term careers in the thriving hospitality and entertainment industries. The benefits don’t stop there.”

The opening is good news for the industry after several poker rooms have closed in Las Vegas over the last several years.

But nationwide, there has been a recent trend toward opening more rooms. The new Hard Rock property in Virginia is set to open a room this year. A new poker venue also opened in Wisconsin at the Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee last year.