NORTH PLATTE - A proposed horse racetrack and casino in North Platte could mean about $115 million in tax revenues for the city, county and state over a decade, a representative for the organization behind the project says. Those were the findings of a regional market analysis that Sean Boyd, the president of Global Gaming Nebraska, shared Thursday.

Global Gaming Nebraska is a subsidiary of the Chickasaw Nation’s Global Gaming Solutions, a commercial business that oversees more than 26 casinos in Oklahoma and Texas.Brian Becker and his daughter, Breanne, who operate a one-day-a-year quarter horse racing operation in Hastings, have partnered with Global Gaming for the racetrack/casino proposals in North Platte and Gering.

The proposed five-eighths-mile oval dirt horse track and roughly 40,000-square-foot casino with more than 600 electronic games would be constructed on a 73.58-acre tract of land in North Platte

Boyd said the marketing study showed that the project could draw from a population of roughly 260,000 within a 125-mile radius that includes out-of-area visitors from Wyoming, Kansas and Colorado. He said the economic impacts over the decade would be:

» $84 million to the Nebraska Property Tax Credit cash fund.

» $15 million to the city of North Platte.

» $15 million to Lincoln County.

» $6 million to the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission and general fund.

More than 180 jobs would be created with about a $5.5 million annual payroll, according to the analysis. He said the benefits would be similar for a casino in Gering, which is about 175 miles from North Platte.

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