Winstar World Casino

[ourulz2000]

THACKERVILLE, Okla. -- The Winstar Casino and Resort is expanding by 65,000 square feet, and the Chickasaw Nation broke ground on Wednesday.

More than 100 people attended the ground-breaking ceremony for the new convention center on the southeast side of the casino.

The facility will include a grand ballroom with seating up to 1,000 people, a junior ballroom seating 700, three board rooms, a kitchen, and additional office space.

Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby says the convention center will be a great attraction. "The intent is to increase business and in the process you create additional revenue and obviously it is going to have an economic impact on the community around us and primarily the Chickasaw nation," he said.

Construction should wrap in 15 months.

Winstar Casino breaks ground on expansion

[ourulz2000]

Winstar Golf course expanding to 36 holes (2 full 18 hole courses). Was at 27 holes.

http://www.winstarworldcasino.com/wp...6112015F-2.pdf

[ourulz2000]

D-FW venues complain WinStar casino makes it hard to compete for big names

Link

[Thomas Vu]

I thought Texas (or is it just Dallas) didn't allow casino's or something of the sort?

[ljbab728]

I thought Texas (or is it just Dallas) didn't allow casino's or something of the sort?

Texas doesn't allow casino gambling but that's not what this is about. Winstar is causing compete issues for more traditional concert venues in north Texas.

[JoninATX]

Texas allows" gambling" like lottery, scratchoffs, and horse racing but as far as Casinos go the Indians gave up their rights for federal recognition. Although one tribe The Kickapoo was silient on gambing so they are governed by the federal indian gaming regulation.
So in all Texas has only one Casino.

[ourulz2000]

Oklahoma’s WinStar World Casino and the Dallas Cowboys announced a historic partnership deal on Thursday which will be the first of its kind. The financial details are still not known but the Chickasaw Nation Tribe and the storied NFL franchise called the agreement between the two parties a “league-changing partnership”.

https://www.legalgamblingandthelaw.c...allas-cowboys/

[okatty]

^the state of sports betting is changing around the country at lightening pace. I think this is Jerry’s way of getting out ahead of it and jives nicely with his stake in Draft Kings (along with Robert Kraft). I had friends in the casinos in Mississippi last weekend during the first CFB games. Said it was out of control how busy they were.

[ourulz2000]

Any idea on the crane at the Winstar behind the hotels? Have not seen a press release or article on construction of anything.

[rlewis]

I heard that it will be two more hotel towers and a new event center.

[ourulz2000]

Source?

[ourulz2000]

This says 3 new towers: https://www.dalsportsnation.com/2021...-sports-teams/

[rlewis]

I have some contacts that work for the Chickasaw Nation that are in the know. I know that hotel towers 4 and 5 have been greenlit along with the event center, but I have not heard about a sixth tower being approved for construction. There may be some plans for it, but it is likely in the conceptual phase at this point. The Chickasaw Nation is very forward thinking, so it wouldn't surprise me at all.

[ourulz2000]

Between this project and the Ardmore Air Park project, we are talking tens of thousands of new jobs in Southern Oklahoma (Ardmore project estimates 18K jobs long term). The supporting businesses that will come along with it, needed to support increased population. Restaurants, schools, hospitals, shopping, services, homes, etc. In the Dallas thread there was talk of eventually DFW to OKC being very little land in between. DFW to to Gainesville isn't far from that as is. You turn Ardmore into an Oklahoma version of the Fort Worth Alliance Airport and Winstar Area continues to boom, you can see in the next 20 years Gainesville to Ardmore at least not much land in-between.

[Bunty]

Between this project and the Ardmore Air Park project, we are talking tens of thousands of new jobs in Southern Oklahoma (Ardmore project estimates 18K jobs long term). The supporting businesses that will come along with it, needed to support increased population. Restaurants, schools, hospitals, shopping, services, homes, etc. In the Dallas thread there was talk of eventually DFW to OKC being very little land in between. DFW to to Gainesville isn't far from that as is. You turn Ardmore into an Oklahoma version of the Fort Worth Alliance Airport and Winstar Area continues to boom, you can see in the next 20 years Gainesville to Ardmore at least not much land in-between.

I don't think growth will be very fast in south central Oklahoma at least not coming from Texans. Why would most Texans regard it as smart to work in Texas but commute from Oklahoma and have to pay Oklahoma income tax? Politicians will cite that as another reason why Oklahoma needs to do as Texas and abolish the state income tax. On the other hand, a good number of Texans may not object moving to Oklahoma to take advantage of Oklahoma jobs.

[Bunty]

I have some contacts that work for the Chickasaw Nation that are in the know. I know that hotel towers 4 and 5 have been greenlit along with the event center, but I have not heard about a sixth tower being approved for construction. There may be some plans for it, but it is likely in the conceptual phase at this point. The Chickasaw Nation is very forward thinking, so it wouldn't surprise me at all.

Forward thinking surely means confident that northern Texas will not be allowed to build casino-hotels for the foreseeable future.

[ourulz2000]

I have some contacts that work for the Chickasaw Nation that are in the know. I know that hotel towers 4 and 5 have been greenlit along with the event center, but I have not heard about a sixth tower being approved for construction. There may be some plans for it, but it is likely in the conceptual phase at this point. The Chickasaw Nation is very forward thinking, so it wouldn't surprise me at all.

Any idea where there is no news about it? What's the strategy here?

[rlewis]

I'm not sure why they aren't publicizing it more. With the pandemic still going on, it may not be something that is a priority right now. I did get an update that there is only one hotel tower that is going to be built along with the events center instead of two towers. There is a belief that Texas is going to legalize gambling in the next 5 to 8 years, so they are going to be pretty cautious when it comes to expansion.

[ourulz2000]

I'm not sure why they aren't publicizing it more. With the pandemic still going on, it may not be something that is a priority right now. I did get an update that there is only one hotel tower that is going to be built along with the events center instead of two towers. There is a belief that Texas is going to legalize gambling in the next 5 to 8 years, so they are going to be pretty cautious when it comes to expansion.

Doesn't make sense imo to be cautious. Even if they legalize gambling in 5-8 years it will take years beyond to organize, build, etc. They will have a 25 year headstart on anything in DFW Metroplex.

[Scott5114]

Doesn't make sense imo to be cautious. Even if they legalize gambling in 5-8 years it will take years beyond to organize, build, etc. They will have a 25 year headstart on anything in DFW Metroplex.

WinStar started out in a tent, and half of Newcastle Casino is still temporary prefab trailers. There's no reason someone couldn't do that in Texas. Granted, it wouldn't initially have same ooh-and-aah destination factor that WinStar has now, but a casino's bread and butter isn't the occasional visitor who's there to gawk at the decor.

Additionally, full legalization in Texas means a Texas casino could be placed pretty much anywhere. Oklahoma casinos are limited to tribal trust land. Tribes can purchase land and get it put into trust but it's a legal process that takes a while. In Texas, you could repurpose any existing building as a casino. Time to set up would probably be on the order of one to two months in that case. Setting up a casino is no more technically challenging than setting up a typical room of office cubicles.

[rlewis]

Keep in mind that the Chickasaw Nation (CN) owns a horse track in Texas (Lone Star Park). They bought the track back in 2011 as a defensive play in case Texas ever decided to legalize casino gambling. The belief is that all of the horse tracks in Texas will be awarded casino licenses once that happens. If that is indeed the case, the financial resources that would have been used to continue expanding Winstar would then be shifted to Lone Star Park.

The CN wants to meet current demand from customers, but they don't want to go overboard and get stuck in the middle of a $100M-$200M expansion when Texas approves gaming. They'll add steadily until they think that legalization is imminent.

Winstar does have a big head start on any casino that would be built in DFW, but convenience is usually going to win at the end of the day. Of course with the population explosion in the northern DFW suburbs, residents of cities like Denton are probably going to continue to go to Winstar because it is an easier drive.

[Scott5114]

Keep in mind that the Chickasaw Nation (CN) owns a horse track in Texas (Lone Star Park). They bought the track back in 2011 as a defensive play in case Texas ever decided to legalize casino gambling. The belief is that all of the horse tracks in Texas will be awarded casino licenses once that happens. If that is indeed the case, the financial resources that would have been used to continue expanding Winstar would then be shifted to Lone Star Park.

The CN wants to meet current demand from customers, but they don't want to go overboard and get stuck in the middle of a $100M-$200M expansion when Texas approves gaming. They'll add steadily until they think that legalization is imminent.

Winstar does have a big head start on any casino that would be built in DFW, but convenience is usually going to win at the end of the day. Of course with the population explosion in the northern DFW suburbs, residents of cities like Denton are probably going to continue to go to Winstar because it is an easier drive.

Lone Star Park (and its sister property Remington Park) are owned by an LLC called Global Gaming, which is in turn owned by the Chickasaws, so it's not quite as simple as redoing the budget. But the Chickasaws could find a way to get the money to go where it needs to.

Another thing to keep in mind is that hardcore casino gamblers don't exactly make the choice of where they spend their money rationally. If they normally gamble at WinStar, but a casino opens five minutes away from home and they lose the first couple of times they go there, they'll just start driving past it to go back to WinStar because they feel as if they do better there.

[JoninATX]

Makes sense to build in Oklahoma when most of the growth in the DFW metro is closer to the border. 8.5 million people live in DFW/ Sherman area as well as parts of southern Oklahoma which is in fact part of DFW CSA.

[JoninATX]

I live in a populated region just north of Austin where alot of my colleagues go to Winstar for a 2 day vacation. I'll probably take a trip up there myself this wk.

[ourulz2000]

Lone Star Park is located at I-20 & Belt Line. Not ideal. Not much good happens after dark over there. Comparing that to Winstar is apples and oranges anyway. Winstar is now a destination. Even when Texas legalizes gambling, it is still something that people will want to go to even beyond heading down to the 'local' casino. We have to take consideration in terms of traffic and culture bubbles too within the DFW metroplex. This is biggest factor in all of this. DFW has become a melting pot of Biblical proportions.

Winstar has this going for it: 20 year head start. 100 mile radius non-compete clause with entertainers, location (yes, more positive than negative), Dallas Cowboys Partnership (if even temporary), DFW population growth.
Winstar is going to remain #1. The higher-ups probably know what they are doing, but as soon as Oklahoma legalizes Sports Betting, and the Sports Book is opened at Winstar, there will be an ocean of Sports Fans going through the doors.





This is in Winstar's back pocket for growth from the north: https://www.okcommerce.gov/124-milli...logistics-hub/

Up to 18K jobs projected over the next 10 years from the Ardmore Multimodal Logistics Facility project.