From a temporary room to a permanent casino
Columbus had a casino before it had a finished building. Caesars opened a temporary floor called Columbus Casino at the Platte County Ag Society Park on June 12, 2023, with about 250 slot machines and electronic table games, open from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day while construction went on next door.
Harrah’s Columbus Nebraska followed in May 2024, the first new permanent casino completed in the state after the 2020 vote. Its partner, Columbus Exposition and Racing, holds the racing license. The project was estimated at around $75 million in 2023. For how racetrack casinos fund racing, see what is a racino.
Horse racing on the one-mile track
The horse racing oval is the longest in Nebraska, a full mile around, which gives Columbus races a different shape from the five-eighths-mile ovals at Fonner Park and Lake Mac. The first meet on the new track in 2024 offered fifteen racing days from mid-August to mid-September, plus an extra day on Labor Day.
For 2026, horse racing ran on fifteen days between July 24 and August 23, the second-longest meet in the state after Fonner. Bets go into pari-mutuel pools, explained in the pari-mutuel betting guide. Spectators of any age can sit in the grandstand, while placing a wager requires being 21 or older under Nebraska rules.
The Harrah’s Columbus Nebraska casino floor
The casino covers about 17,000 square feet, with 400 slot machines and 11 table games, smaller than the 500 slots and 14 tables first proposed. Opening day in May 2024 produced a first jackpot of $1,876 on a Power Push machine at 10:14 a.m. Players earn and redeem points through the Caesars Rewards program.
The Caesars Race and Sportsbook sits on the floor in a 2,100-square-foot area with 17 screens and a 163-inch video wall; it was the first place Caesars took sports bets in Nebraska. In the first seven months of 2026 the property reported $14.9 million in gross gaming revenue, fourth of the five operating racetrack casinos in the state.
The Harrah’s Columbus Nebraska hotel
Lodging arrived in June 2025, when Midas Hospitality finished a four-story dual-brand Marriott building next to the casino. It holds a 54-room Fairfield Inn and Suites and a 48-room TownePlace Suites, 102 rooms in all. A ground-level indoor corridor links the hotel to the casino, useful during Nebraska winters and on hot August race days.
Racegoers who want to see the late-summer meet can stay on site, walk to the grandstand for the afternoon card and return to the room without driving. The hotel is booked through Marriott rather than Caesars, and the casino’s own website lists it among partner hotels. Harrah’s Columbus Nebraska has no hotel tower of its own.
Brew Brothers and Wishbones
Dining centers on Brew Brothers, a brewpub concept the Carano family started in 1995, serving pub food such as pizza, burgers, wings and nachos with a rotating list of local and national beers. Weekday service is 21 and over, while designated weekend family hours open the restaurant to all ages through the Plaza Entrance.
Wishbones is the bar on the property, a gathering spot for toasting a winner after the last race. Columbus itself has more restaurants and fast-food options a short drive from Howard Boulevard. Players doing a central Nebraska circuit can add the Grand Island Casino Resort to the trip, roughly an hour away, or head east toward WarHorse Casino Omaha.
A note on limits
Nebraska requires casino players and bettors to be at least 21, and the casino posts the state helpline, 1-833-BETOVER, at the bottom of every page. Setting a fixed amount for the day, and treating losses as the price of the outing rather than something to win back, is a sensible way to approach any racetrack casino visit.