Hollywood Casino Omaha - Business Plan
Eric Gilson
Bellevue University
Hollywood Casino Omaha
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary ________________________________________________ Page 3
Market Assessment _________________________________________________ Page 5
Competitive Assessment _____________________________________________ Page 6
Marketing Strategy _________________________________________________ Page 9
Marketing Plan ___________________________________________________ Page 12
Operations Overview ______________________________________________ Page 13
Project Budget Overview ___________________________________________ Page 16
Management and Human Capital ____________________________________ Page 19
Risk Analysis _____________________________________________________ Page 20
References _______________________________________________________ Page 23
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Executive Summary
Opportunity
Penn National Gaming has a great opportunity to expand our Hollywood brand into a
new market and it appears the location to be awarded is Omaha, Nebraska. This market
currently has three casinos (Harrah’s, Horseshoe and Ameristar) within the 5 mile radius of
where we would like to build our facility. These locations are in Council Bluffs, IA which is
basically a suburb of Omaha, Nebraska and the locations are only 5 minutes away from Omaha’s
downtown district.
Competition
The three casinos located in Council Bluffs, IA see majority of their players from
Nebraska while Iowa produces the other major percentage however data also shows there is a
decent size customer base from Kansas. The following is an overview of the potential local
competition.
Ameristar
Open Date
Horseshoe Casino
1/19/1996
Open Date
Harrah's Casino
3/17/1995
Open Date
1/1/1996
Table Games
28
Table Games
72
Table Games
26
Slot Machines
1,550
Slot Machines
1,748
Slot Machines
795
Casino Sq. Footage
38,500
Casino Sq. Footage
68,000
Casino Sq. Footage
28,006
Strategic Review

Customer Database Leverage – We will utilize our current Hollywood Casino brands in
the Kansas City markets along with our Argosy brand in Sioux City. We have a
customer base in these markets that currently frequent the Council Bluffs locations.

Casino Location – We have rights to land which positions us on the route to and from
the local airport. This land is positioned minutes away from the heart of the downtown
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district where the College World Series is held and an entertainment venue named
Century Link center that holds many successful events.

Market Demographic – There are more than 1.2 million residents within a 50-mile
radius forming the Greater Omaha area. In addition to that population base we have a
customer base at our current locations in Sioux City which is only 1 ½ hours from Omaha
while Kansas City is 3 hours.

Marketing / Strategic Alliances – There are middle to high end hotels whom we have
contacted such as Hilton and Marriott who have said they would be interested in a
partnership. Also, we have been in talks with the management team who run Century
Link Arena and TD Ameritrade Park regarding sponsorship and advertising.
Project Design/Concept
Employee Headcount
Land
Gaming Floor
Slot Machines
Table Games
Park Spaces / RV Lot
Property Details
1,500
250,000 square feet
125,000 square feet
2,000
80 (20 Live Poker)
3,000
Project Review of Risk / Reward
We believe this would be a successful venture however with any of our projects it does
present risk. The risk is market saturation because over time it couldn’t handle all the casinos
without potentially eliminating one of the locations. A plus is that our facility would bring new
life to the area because the other locations are dated. The other thing we cannot ignore is the
potential loyalty Nebraska citizens will have to our facility. We saw this same response at our
Toledo location when customers stopped going to Detroit and became loyal patrons to our local
facility.
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Market Assessment
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska. It is located on the Missouri river and
is the key city in the metropolitan area of that includes Council Bluffs, Iowa, which is located
just minutes west on the opposite side of the Missouri river. According to the 2010 Census,
Omaha's population was 408,958, making it the nation's 42nd-largest city but including suburbs,
Omaha formed the 60th-largest metropolitan area in the United States in 2010, with an estimated
population of 865,350 residing in eight counties.
2010 Population
Population
Households
Greater Omaha Total
865,350
335,075
Cass, NE
25,719
9,606
Douglas, NE
509,950
198,269
Sarpy, NE
156,455
58,063
Saunders, NE
20,015
8,025
Pottawattamie, IA
89,914
36,377
Decision Data Resources estimates applied to 2010 U.S. Census data.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Decision Data
Density (pop/sq mile)
196.4
45.4
1,501.0
632.8
26.4
93.8
Our property location will be located between Omaha’s Eppley Airfield and the
downtown district of Omaha. Eppley Airfield is a regional airport serviced by all major airlines
and is only located 5 minutes away from downtown Omaha which also means we would be
along their path into the city. The city of Omaha is the host of the College World series and
recently just built a new $131-million, 24,000-seat stadium called TD Ameritrade Park Omaha
(Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership). Across the street from the stadium is
Century Link Omaha which holds major music acts, hosted the Olympic Team Trials for
Swimming and is connected to a 450-room Hilton Hotel.
Competition
The Council Bluffs market currently offers over 4,000 slot machines with the latest slots
and ticketing technology while providing the market just over 120 table games. Horseshoe is the
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newest facility to open so it obviously provides a better product than the other two casinos in the
Council Bluffs area. The Horseshoe is the only land based facility while Ameristar and Harrah’s
are riverboats.
Council Bluffs Market Summary
Casino
Facility
Gaming Space
Slot
Table
Name
Description
(sqft)
Machines
Games
Ameristar
Riverboat
38.500
1,601
31
Harrah’s
Riverboat
33.400
1,034
29
Horseshoe
Racino
78,800
1,838
67
Total
150,700
4,473
127
*Hilton Hotel Group developed a 150 room hotel at west end of property.
Restaurants
Hotel Rooms
4
4
3
11
160
250
0*
410
Targeted Market
This customer base in a 60 mile radius is roughly 700,000 with 507,000 of these
customers being within the 30 mile radius according to Iexpress/Claritas research (IRGC). The
average household income of the Omaha area is $71,141 with a median age around 35 years old.
Casino
Name
Position
Count
Ameristar
Harrah’s
Horseshoe
Total
Source: IRGC
1,795
1,207
2,245
5,247
Council Bluffs Market Analysis
Revenue
Gaming
Market Share
Market
Revenue
Share
34.2%
$175,789,037
37.5%
23.0%
$95,518,977
20.4%
42.8%
$197,214,212
42.1%
100%
$468,522,226
100%
Fair Share
Ratio
Win/
Position
1.10
.89
.98
1.00
$268
$217
$241
$245
Competitive Assessment
The Omaha market currently has three full scale gaming offers which are located in the
Council Bluffs (IA) which are Harrah’s Casino, Horseshoe Casino and Ameristar Casino.

Horseshoe Casino
o
Strengths – Horseshoe’s has a significant advantage considering it is the newest
property and a land based casino. Their gaming floor is located on the one floor
which makes it easy for customers to maneuver and access their game of choice.
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o Weaknesses - It isn’t as accessible from the major interstates as Ameristar and
Harrah’s Casino while also being located the furthest from downtown Omaha.
We also believe expansion of this location would be a challenge unless they
would do it to the north which would impact parking.

Ameristar Casino
o
Strengths – Ameristar has been in the market over 20 plus years and has a loyal
customer base. This property is easy to access of on I-29 and has a significant
lodging advantage in that they have their own 160 rooms on property while 2 other
hotels attached to their property as well.
o
Weaknesses – This property is located on the river and is not a land based which
makes any expansion or growth an expensive option. The other obvious
disadvantage is their gaming floor is spread over 3 floors which makes it difficult
for customers to navigate.

Harrah’s Casino
o
Strengths – Harrah’s has a loyal customer base whom frequent their property and
has a strong food and beverage offering while being the closest property to
downtown Omaha.
o
Weaknesses – Harrah’s has the lowest attendance of the three in the area. Its
gaming floor is similar to Ameristar as it is spread across 3 floors but Harrah’s
boat is much smaller than Ameristar.
Product Comparison
It is obvious the product we will provide in Omaha is quite similar to what the three
casinos in the Council Bluffs market offer the customer base. However, we see many
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opportunities to differentiate our property. The items we have taken into consideration are the
following.

Games Offering - We will be offering 2,000 slot machines of which are the newest on
the market. Our machines will also be ticket machines just like our competitors. Our
table games count will be around 80 games which will also include a poker room and we
will have live circuit events.

Food & Beverage –These food outlets will be Hollywood themed like our other location.
Our Epic Buffet will be 500 seats, Stadium Sports restaurant lined with TVs, Final Cut
Steakhouse and diner selection that fits the market.

Customer Base Target – Our research shows over 60% of the customers who go to
Council Bluffs are Nebraska residents so our targeted advertising will be at Nebraska
residents. The downtown location will provide a high traffic flow from events not to
mention the travel path to and from the local airport.

Property Assessment –The design we put into our facilities is very eye appealing and
it’s no secret that being new gains main interest in a customer base but the key will be to
keep them after that effect wears off. We have purchased enough land to continue adding
amenities like a hotel or larger gaming space in the future.
Penn National Gaming vs. Council Bluffs Competitors
Our company is one of few gaming companies who have cash on hand to build new
facilities. We are currently building in Kansas City (KS), Toledo (OH), and Columbus (OH) are
all ahead of schedule and coming in at our under budget and will add 5,000.

Ameristar – This is a successful regional operator but has been in change mode since the
passing of their owner who dictated all moves done in their business. In the markets we
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compete currently with them we typically earn more market share and that would be no
different in this market.

Harrah’s & Horseshoe – These are owned and operated by gaming giant Caesar’s
Entertainment. This company is quite successful and has a great customer database to
pull from along with an outstanding marketing department. However, its debt has really
hurt their ability to invest capital in their current facilities not to mention the reduction in
their labor force has severely hurt their customer service.
Marketing Strategy
The marketing strategy for this market will be the same template that we used in our
openings in Toledo, Kansas and Columbus. This Omaha market is very similar to our other new
locations we opened up because it has the same type of feeder markets where we currently have
properties. The Omaha, Lincoln and Council Bluffs market captures 700,000+ and it’s important
to note the majority of this population falls within 45 minutes of our facility location.
We will provide a direct mail approach with this population by launching an internet
campaign where they can go to our website to learn more about the new property and can sign up
for promotional opportunities. Along with direct mail we will use newspaper and billboard
advertising to get the message out as well. This is a high frequency gamer market we believe we
can achieve top market share in the area because we are new, a Nebraska based facility and we
can leverage our 13 million player database. We will need to continue providing the newest
slots, give our gamers the table games selection they desire and reinvest into our facility.
Hollywood Casino Omaha’s website will provide information regarding our sister
properties from Sioux City to Kansas City and even M Resorts in Las Vegas so they get an
understanding of why holding our players card benefits them. The gamer population we are
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targeting show they visit the Sioux City and Kansas City markets as do those residents visit our
Omaha area so similar marketing will be done at those sister properties about our new facility.
Advertising & Brand Management
We have found that our competition is currently utilizing the standard marketing practices
that we see in our industry.

Company Brand Site: These are property specific and advise their customers of
promotions and entertainment offerings going on at the property. We will advertise our
new Omaha property on our locations in Kansas City (Argosy Casino Riverside and
Hollywood Casino Kansas) and Sioux City (Argosy Casino Sioux City) websites.

The Daily Nonpareil & Omaha World Herald: The Daily Nonpareil is the local
Council Bluffs newspaper while the Omaha World Herald is read throughout the state of
Nebraska. Also, we have noticed the Journal Star that is out of Lincoln (NE) isn’t
advertised in as often which offers us a great opportunity to introduce our brand into that
market.

Billboard: Each property utilizes billboard advertising and they are spread throughout
Council Bluffs and Omaha which are typically located in high traffic areas such as I-29 /
I-80. These billboards are extended from I-29 going to Sioux City down to about 100
miles south on I-29 towards Kansas City.

Direct Mail: Harrah’s and Horseshoe send direct mail offerings out to their players who
hold a Total Rewards Card. The offers they send to their players differ according to the
tier level the player is at and those levels from lowest to highest are Gold, Platinum,
Diamond and Seven Stars. Ameristar has a very similar program just not as robust and
their levels are Red, Premier, Elite, Star Club and Ace.
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
Facebook & Twitter: The competition has done a very good job at maximizing their
exposure via their Facebook and Twitter pages. This is an additional way they make their
customers aware of their promotions and on Facebook they are linked to their other
properties. These sites have been created and we are just waiting to launch them.
Community Introductions
Hollywood Omaha is expected to open March 2013 so we will start having informational
sessions in the local community in March 2012. There will be 3 different information
sessions regarding career opportunities at the casino, ability for local vendors to meet our
corporate purchasing team and an overview of what we are going to do to give back to the
community.
The first session regarding career opportunities will be to meet with local chamber of
commerce to discuss the type of positions we will be hiring for at our casino and our goal to
hire locally. The next session will be similar but open to the public so they can understand
the positions that will be available but to clarify this is not a career fair. The final 2 sessions
will be career fairs targeting different positions because we expect a large turnout.
Our corporate team will hold a session where vendors from the local area can sign up to
meet with our purchasing team. We have numerous national contracts but would like to do
business with the local community and it’s important we make sure give first opportunity to
minority based companies.
Penn prides itself on being a respected local partner of the community so this type of
information session will tell the local residents our promise to reinvest into the community.
Similar to our other projects we will provide money to build parks, libraries and assist in the
development of our local schools. They will not only receive money from the tax dollars we
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will pay but by donations we will give to the community. Also, we are here to create jobs
and will be filling 1,500 positions at our location not to mention the 2,000+ construction jobs
created because of the facility being built from the ground up.
Marketing Plan
It was determined in our marketing strategy and assessment that we have a 60 mile radius
to work with when it comes to our customer base. Our plan will consist of various methods but
the key areas we will talk about are direct mail from our active customer database, advertising in
various forms and community outreach. It is important to also to note that social media will be
an effective tool.
Marketing Timelines
It is important to remember there is a detailed timeline we will share explaining the
responsibilities of each department. We are reviewing the hard dates we must focus on and what
has been a success for us in previous openings. These have a significant expense tagged to them
but it is a controlled cost.

February 2013 – Hollywood Casino Omaha Opening: We will have the soft
opening a week prior to our Premier Opening. Our soft opening will consist of V.I.P.
invites which will include local community leaders, business owners and our highest
tier players in the Midwest we have identified. The Premier Opening will be held on
a Friday night and we will tie in a movie premier as done at other openings.

December 2012 – Soft Opening Invitations Sent: The opening date will be
confirmed and we will be able to get our all invitations to our V.I.P. guests. These
invitations will be out by the first week of December with a RSVP due within a week
to understand who will be attending.
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
November 2012 – Direct Mail To Penn Player’s Card Holders: Push out
notifications to the individuals who has a player’s card and what type of games to
expect at the new Hollywood Casino Omaha. Player’s will also receive invites and
promotions to our new Kansas City Hollywood Casino.

January 2012 – Initial Advertisement Launch: Billboards for the new facility will
start to go up advising the casual customer that Omaha is going Hollywood with its
brand new casino. These billboards will initially be placed on I-29 near the Harrah’s,
Ameristar and Horseshoe exist, downtown at our facility location, the road to/from
the airport, in Eppley airport and buy advertisement space in Century link.

November 2011 – Hollywood Casino Omaha Website Launch: Our website will
provide information on the facility and what the casino will offer such as restaurants,
games and amenities offered at this new facility. There is also the ability to sign up
for their player’s card.
Operations Overview
A local construction company has been selected to build our new location in Omaha,
Nebraska. The construction company will be working with our Corporate Project Development
team to construct this facility and to ensure they hit the target completion goal of February 2013.
The state requires our company to spend a minimum of $250 million on the facility which has
become a common practice when new gaming jurisdictions have been established over the past 5
years. The chart below gives you an overview of the project.
Omaha
Capital Spend
$320
Casino Sq Ft
125,000
Slots
2,000
Table Games
80
* Planned Capital Spend is in millions
* Parking space figure includes a 3 level parking garage and uncovered parking
Hotel Rooms
-
Parking
3,000
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The renderings below provide you an idea of what the facility will look like upon
completion. Our parking garage will be located on the west end of the casino with additional
parking available to the north of the garage and on the east end of the casino. If there is a
decision to add a hotel in the future as discussed, we will be able attach it to the west end where
the casino and parking garage come together.
Location & Temporary Office
Our new casino will be located on south side of Abbott Drive which provides heavy
traffic flow since we are located between downtown Omaha and the only major airport (Eppley
Airfield) in the area. The surrounding businesses consist of Gallup, Rental Budget Car, various
hotels, Century Link Center and many other restaurants which are no further than 10 minutes
away.
We closed on rental property for our team to work out of at 2200 Abbott Drive, Carter
Lake (IA) and have the necessary data capabilities. The building was previously leased by a
direct mail services company so it is fully functional and can meet our needs. We can now house
our whole management team, HR team, provide storage space and conduct training at this
facility until we can get into our new casino. This location will cost us roughly $8,000 per
month.
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Management Team
We will have our General Manager and Assistant General Manager on the ground by the
beginning of January 2012. The rest of our Executive team will be hired no later than the end of
January 2012 which in total will add a labor cost over $1 million. The hiring process will be
done by the Corporate Office until the GM/AGM are brought on and then it will be a partnership.

General Manager – The GM will be in charge of keeping the project on course and upon
completion lead a successful property. While the casino is being built the GM will meet
with the gaming commission to provide updates on the construction progress, review
gaming regulations, handle all media requests on behalf of the new casino and hire his
team.

Assistant General Manager – The AGM will handle many of the same duties the GM.
The AGM usually becomes the person to oversee the construction progress and reports
back to the GM.

VP of Human Resources – The VP of HR will be responsible for putting together the
hiring timeline, develop handbooks, establish the HR team and work with local agencies
to let them know the type of positions Hollywood Casino will be hiring for in the near
future.

VP of Finance – This person is responsible for making sure the construction costs stay
within the budget established by the corporate office. However, this finance person will
also need to review and approve any new vendor orders or relationships. All payments to
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the commission, vendors or any partners will be done by this individual. He or she will
also set relationships with local financial institutions with the assistance of corporate.

VP of Marketing – The person in this role will be responsible for buying media and
placement of ads which includes the billboards we talked about in previous documents.
It is important for this person to handle all Public Relations and build partnerships with
local hotels, conventions centers and other major business entities.

Director of Facilities – Our Facilities Director will need to keep a close eye on the
construction crew. This person has the best knowledge of what needs to be done and
how long it takes so if something looks to be off schedule he or she can notify the GM
and AGM.
Project Budget Overview
The Omaha location had many requirements that needed to be met once the commission
selected Penn National Gaming as the winner of the first gaming license in the state. Once the
approval was given we were required to pay the upfront onetime fee of $50 million. This fee
was paid to the Nebraska Gaming Commission in January (2012) and upon receipt we were able
to start our construction along with a required $10 million every January in order to keep our
license.
Construction will obviously be our largest expense and currently we have spent $75
million. This initial money was used to purchase the land our property will be located, land
work to prepare for building, purchased the 2,000 slot machines and 80 table games. The
remaining amount is expected to be used in full barring any unforeseen expenses.
Category
*Initial License Fee - Facility
*Annual License Fee - Facility
*Construction - Facility
Fixed Expenses
Budgeted Amount
$50,000.00
$10,000.00
$275,000,000.00
Actual Cost
$50,000.00
$10,000.00
$75,000,000.00
Difference
$0.00
$0.00
$200,000,000.00
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*Initial License Fee – Facility – Paid as of January 2012.
*Annual License Fee – Facility – Amount to be paid every January starting in 2013.
*Construction – Facility – Initial $75 million used to purchase property, land work, misc.
Temporary Facility
Our temporary office facility will have a monthly cost of $7,800.00 a month. We had to
sign a lease for a full year as we mentioned in previous communications so this will be a total
expense of $93,600 and it has been paid in full. It is our expectation that we will be able to get
into our new offices at our new Hollywood Casino Omaha location in November 2012. The
whole team will move but Human Resource will still utilize the temporary facility for new hire
training and we will hold dealer school there as well. This facility will obviously have variable
expenses as it pertains to utilities but we are initialing budgeting $1,200.00 a month and it will be
adjusted as necessary. We will review this budgeted amount and make changes after three
months.
Fixed Expenses
Category
Budgeted Amount
Actual Cost
$93,600.00
$93,600.00
*Temporary Office Facility
$1,700.00
$1,612.00
*Computer, Printers, etc.
* Temporary Office Facility – Paid year lease up front as of January 2012. Paid in full
*Computer, Printers, etc. – Average of $1,612.50 per employee
Variable Expenses
Budgeted Amount
Actual Cost
$1,200.00
$1,020.00
*Utilities
$1,000.00
$650.00
*Office Supplies
*Utilities – Monthly cost. First month came in under budget. Review in 3 months
*Office Supplies – Monthly cost. Budgeted higher to start but will reduce accordingly
Category
Difference
$0.00
$87.50
Difference
$180.00
$350.00
Staffing
We have 6 executives hired as mentioned in earlier communications and they have been on
location as of January 2012. The hiring of these employees brought a labor cost of $1,095,000
and we will be hiring 4 administrative positions in February. The labor cost for adding these
positions will be $114,880 with three of the administrative being non-exempt paying $12.00 per
hour and hiring the GM’s Executive Assistant at $40,000.
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Each employee will need to be licensed by the Nebraska Gaming Commission. The
executive team members gaming licenses will be $750 and Penn National Gaming will cover this
cost. All of our other employees will pay for their own licenses which will be $150.00 and
Hollywood Casino Omaha will initially pay for the license so the employee doesn’t have to pay
this amount upon being hired. We will then deduct $37.50 out of the employee’s first four
paychecks to reimburse the company. These licenses will need to be renewed every two years at
the same cost and it will be the same process.
Fixed Expenses
Category
Budgeted Amount
Actual Cost
$1,245,000.00
$1,095,000.00
*Executive Team Labor Cost
$114,880.00
$0.00
*Admin Team Labor Cost
$5,250.00
$4,5000.00
*Gaming License Fee - Exec
$600.00
$0.00
*Gaming License Fee - Admin
* Executive Team Labor Cost – This amount is annually. Still need to hire Director of IT.
* Admin Team Labor Cost – This amount is annually. Hiring these employees in February 2012.
* Gaming License Fee - Exec – Paid every 2 years. Director of IT license $750 pending.
* Gaming License Fee - Admin – Paid every 2 years. Company reimbursed from employee.
Difference
$150,000.00
$114,880.00
$750.00
$750.00
Projected Revenue
It is our initial estimate that our average admissions per month will be around 211,000
over the first six months we open our doors. The table game revenue we anticipate to have will
be around $3,031,727 off our current data. Our slot revenue estimate will be around $27,229,210
but this is an area we believe could very well be higher because we offer more machines.
Adjusted Gross Revenue
Admissions
Table Drop
Table Revenue
Slot Drop
Slot Coin In
Slot Revenue
Hollywood Casino Omaha Monthly Projections
$30,260,937
211,000
$12,572,724
$3,031,727
$154,800,531
$260,922,170
$27,229,210
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Management and Human Capital
General Manager
The General Manager typically must have strong operations knowledge and an excellent
understanding of our financials. When searching for a person to fill this role we looked for a
candidate who at a minimum had 5 plus years experience in a Assistant General Manager /
General Manager role, 12 plus years experience in the gaming industry and experience opening a
new property.
Assistant General Manager
The Assistant General Manager should have a strong operations background along with a
good understanding of marketing. When searching for a person to fill this role we looked for a
candidate who at a minimum had 5 plus years experience in a role of Vice President or Director
role within Slots, Table and/or Marketing, 12 plus years experience in the gaming industry and
experience opening a new property.
VP of Human Resources
The VP of Human Resources had to have a minimum had 3 plus years experience in a
role of Vice President or Director, 10 plus years experience in the gaming industry is preferred
and experience opening a new property. The previous 2 positions were filled from within
however we didn’t have enough bench strength to fill this role so we had to go outside to fill it.
VP of Finance
The VP of Finance had to have a minimum had 3 plus years experience in a role of Vice
President or Director, 10 plus years experience in the gaming industry and experience opening a
new property. This position was filled by a transfer from within the Penn family.
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VP of Marketing
The VP of Finance had to have a minimum had 3 plus years experience in a role of Vice
President or Director, 12 plus years experience in the gaming industry and experience opening a
new property. This position was filled by a transfer from within the Penn family.
Risk Analysis
Gaming Opposition
This great opportunity didn’t pass by much because there was quite a bit of opposition and
we mentioned they had big voices because they do. A group to be aware of is Gambling with the
Good Life and their director is Pat Loontjer. Their website www.gamblingwiththegoodlife.com
has a very large backing and one of them is Warren Buffett. We don’t have to provide a back
story on Warren Buffett because everyone knows who he is and to make it even more impactful
he is Omaha. The other individual who doesn’t support gaming in the state is football coaching
legend Tom Osborne. Tom Osborne is held at the level of Warren Buffet because the two of
them are admired for being a very moral and ethical citizen of Nebraska. Tom Osborne also held
a senators seat for the state of Nebraska so he was involved in denying the gaming bill in the
past. To give you and ideas of their stance on gaming we have pulled provided a few quotes
from each of them.

Warren Buffett, Chairmen of Berkshire Hathaway; (www.gamblingwiththegoodlife.com)
“Gambling is a tax on ignorance. I find it socially revolting when the government preys on
the ignorance of its citizenry. When the government makes it easy for people to take their
Social Security checks and pull [slot machine] handles… it is not government at its best.”

Tom Osborne Interview; (www.necitizen.com/weblog/2005/11/tom_osborne_interview)
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“We already have a lot of gambling in Nebraska. Casino gambling hurts the taxpayer more
than it helps. Social costs go up. Addictions triple. There are more kids in foster care.
About 30% of the money ends up going to Las Vegas. In Iowa, they still needed to raise
taxes as gambling didn't bring in as much money as predicted. Gambling does not produce
goods or services, it drains resources.”
Establishing Local Partnerships
We need to build partnerships within the local businesses and while they all are important
we need to be sure we establish a strong relationship with the larger businesses. The key targets
to establish a partnership with should be Century Link, TD Ameritrade Park and major hotels in
the downtown market area. These three targets already have a strong relationship with
Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs so we need to find a way to build the same or stronger
partnership. We do have the advantage that we are local community partner who can help build
revenue for the city instead of it going across the river.
The partnership with Century Link should be our first target. We need to buy a premier
suite in their facility because we could utilize it for our top tier players and also host community
business members. This will also give us the ability to advertise within the event center to help
us get our brand into the eye of the consumer. However, this facility holds college events and
children events so we will make the request to not use our brand for advertising purposes during
any of these events.
The other partnership we mentioned was TD Ameritrade Park. This new baseball
stadium is across the street from Century Link and both are located less than 5 minutes from our
casino. The exposure we could have at this facility is huge but we are going to not advertise at
NCAA events. The College World Series is hosted at this location but we will not advertise at
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the stadium during this event.
We will also help sponsor events at this location throughout the
year.
We need high end facilities for our players to stay in and establishing a specialized rate
with Hilton, Marriott and the new Hyatt being built will be an important task. Penn made the
decision to not build a hotel because we felt we should work with our local hotels and we believe
that decision will be appreciated by local hotels.
Competitors
Nebraska is a new gaming market but it is a competitive market considering it has
Horseshoe Casino, Harrah’s Casino and Ameristar Casino in the downtown district area. We
have done our competitive shopping at these locations and Horseshoe Casino seems to be our
toughest competition. Our facility will be quite a bit larger and as stated in our competitive
assessment we will get a share of the wallet but we need majority. The goal is to keep our
Nebraska customers from going across the bridge by advertising directly to them.
This is our biggest risk because the market isn’t large enough to support 4 casinos. The
primary goal is to make our Nebraska customers it doesn’t make sense to go across the bridge to
enjoy their product when there is a far superior product in their back yard. However, change is
difficult and many of them have player’s cards at those casinos so what is the incentive for them
to give up those points to go Hollywood. This is where marketing comes into play and
rewarding our customers for choosing Hollywood Casino Omaha while not giving away the
house.
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References
Cummings Associates. Analysis of Current Markets for Casino Gaming in Iowa, with
Projections for the Revenues and Impacts of Potential New Facilities. Cummings
Associates. http://www.iowa.gov/irgc/
Decision Data Resources estimates applied to 2010 U.S. Census data. U.S. Census Bureau,
Decision Data
Gambling with the Good Life. www.gamblingwiththegoodlife.com
Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership. Copyright 2011
http://www.selectgreateromaha.com/index.aspx
Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission. Gaming Revenue by FY (July-June) Years 2008 through
2013. http://www.iowa.gov/irgc/
Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission. 2010 Annual Report. http://www.iowa.gov/irgc/
Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership. Copyright 2011
LoopNet. Historical Office Lease Listing – One Owen Parkway.
http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/94733/2200-Abbott-Drive-Carter-Lake-IA/
Nebraska Citizen. A review of Nebraska Political Races, including candidate profiles and
positions. November 15, 2005.
www.necitizen.com/weblog/2005/11/tom_osborne_interview
Ohio Casino Control Commission. Meeting Progress Report
http://casinocontrol.ohio.gov/ProgressReports.aspx
Penn National Gaming. PENN Investors Presentations, November 10, 2011.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=120420&p=irol-presentations
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The Innovation Group. Iowa Statewide Gaming Market Assessment May 2009.
http://www.iowa.gov/irgc/
http://www.selectgreateromaha.com/index.aspx
Spectrum Gaming Group, October 28, 2013. Gambling Impact Study
http://www.forbes.com/sites/sylviavorhausersmith/2013/08/14/how-the-best-places-to-work-arenailing-employee-engagement/