Vincent Fiala, the casino’s general manager, said it plans to add craps, roulette and blackjack tables to its existing operation.

The planned changes, Fiala said, will allow guests to “have as much of a resort experience as they can in the temporary facility,” which currently has about 300 slot machines.

The Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission will consider the proposal at its April 14 meeting in Columbus.

Assuming the commission votes to approve the expansion, Fiala said it would likely be July before table games are up and running. He said the actual timeline will depend on how long construction takes and how long it takes to hire and train dealers.

By the end of February, the Grand Island casino already had generated more than $1 million in gaming taxes in just over two months of operation with just slot machines. WarHorse Casino in Lincoln, which has been open since late September, has generated nearly $4.4 million in gaming taxes.

Adding table games will likely attract more gamblers, and the Grand Island operation could be the only one offering that option for quite some time.

The other existing casino, WarHorse, doesn’t plan to add table games at its temporary Lincoln casino because it doesn’t have space.

One thing it does hope to add soon, however, is sports betting. Officials there said they hope to have the infrastructure in place to take sports bets by mid- to late May.

WarHorse does plan to have table games at its temporary Omaha casino once it opens, but that won’t be until early 2024, said Pete Graziano, vice president of marketing for WarHorse Gaming.

Caesar’s Entertainment is planning to open a temporary Harrah’s Casino at Ag Park in Columbus later this spring, but it also will have only slot machines to start.

By Matt Olberding