How a racetrack casino reached Ogallala
The license behind Lake Mac started in Hastings. Brian Becker’s company, Hastings Exposition and Racing, held a racing license in Hastings. After the 2020 vote allowed casinos at licensed tracks, a Hastings casino and racetrack won city council approval by a 6-2 vote, but a petition to repeal that decision followed and the plan was later shelved.
Becker then partnered with Elite Casino Resorts, the Iowa company behind the Grand Island Casino Resort, and moved the project to Ogallala. Nebraska’s racing and gaming commission approved the license transfer in July 2024 for a 174-acre site planned for a racetrack, hotel, event center, RV park, restaurants and casino. The format is explained in what is a racino.
Inside the temporary Lake Mac Casino
The temporary building at 777 Pony Express Lane opened on August 19, 2025 with 333 slot machines, 24 of them electronic table games, plus an Elite Sportsbook with a counter and kiosks. A simulcast area lets bettors follow races from other tracks. The Draft Day Sports Lounge serves pub food and quick bites.
Live dealers arrived with a ribbon-cutting on June 30, 2026, when Lake Mac Casino introduced blackjack and Ultimate Texas Hold’em as its first live table games. Through the first seven months of 2026 the property reported $8.2 million in gross gaming revenue, the smallest total of Nebraska’s five operating racetrack casinos, which fits a temporary floor in a small town.
Lake Mac Casino hours
The temporary casino is open every day from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m., so it is closed for four hours each night. The live table games keep narrower hours, Thursday to Sunday from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., which matters for anyone driving in specifically to play blackjack. Lounge hours vary between weekdays and weekends.
Ogallala runs on Mountain Time, an hour behind Lincoln and Omaha, which catches out travelers arriving from the east along Interstate 80. The casino’s phone line, (308) 465-0777, is the quickest way to confirm hours on holidays or race weekends before setting out on a long drive across the plains.
The horse racing schedule
Lake Mac’s five-eighths-mile track is the only one in Nebraska built for quarter horses, the sprinters of American racing, who run short straight distances at very high speed. The first card was run on opening day, August 19, 2025. For 2026 the horse racing schedule approved by the commission listed two days, July 10 and 11.
That makes it the shortest meet in the state, but it fills a gap: the other Nebraska tracks run Thoroughbreds. The full statewide calendar, from Fonner Park in February to South Sioux City in September, is on our horse racing schedule page. Our pari-mutuel betting guide explains how wagers on these races are pooled.
The planned resort
The permanent plan is much larger than what stands today: a 37,000-square-foot gaming floor with about 650 slots, 20 live-dealer tables and a sportsbook lounge, a 180-room hotel with an indoor and outdoor pool, 10,000 square feet of convention space, an RV ground and restaurants, including one named Ruthie’s Steak and Seafood. Operator statements have pointed to 2027 or later.
Until the Lake Mac Casino hotel opens, Ogallala’s motels and chain hotels near the interstate handle overnight stays, and Lake McConaughy, Nebraska’s largest reservoir, brings campers in summer. The nearest other racinos are far to the east: the Grand Island Casino Resort, run by the same operator, and Harrah’s Columbus beyond it.
Playing responsibly
Nebraska limits casino play and race betting to adults 21 and over, and identification is checked at the door. A long drive across the state is a good reason to decide in advance how much to spend and when to leave. The free helpline, 1-833-BETOVER, is answered at any hour.