PENN Breaks Ground on $200M Iowa Hollywood Casino
PENN Entertainment will hold a groundbreaking ceremony on September 14 for a new land-based Hollywood Casino Hotel in Council Bluffs, Iowa, a $180-200 million project that replaces the company's Ameristar riverboat casino, which has operated on the Missouri River since 1996. The new property sits across the river from Omaha, Nebraska, and is targeted for completion in roughly 18 to 24 months.
What's being built
The new Hollywood Casino Hotel will house more than 1,000 slot machines and 25 table games, connected to the property's existing 160-room hotel. Dining options include a Shake Shack — the first location in the Omaha metro area — along with an Asian eatery called Red Lotus, a sportsbook-themed restaurant and bar, a steakhouse, a VIP lounge, and a buffet. PENN Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden framed the project as part of a broader company pattern, saying PENN is "thrilled to be celebrating yet another transition from riverboat gaming to a new best-in-class entertainment destination."
How it's being financed
Gaming and Leisure Properties, the real estate investment trust that owns much of PENN's casino real estate, is financing up to $150 million of the project at a capped 7.1% rate. PENN expects the development to support roughly 450 construction jobs during the build and around 50 permanent positions once the property opens, replacing jobs tied to the outgoing riverboat operation.
Why it matters
The Council Bluffs project fits a pattern across the regional casino industry: operators that built riverboat casinos in the 1990s under older state licensing rules are increasingly replacing them with larger, amenity-heavy land-based properties as states relax those restrictions and as customer expectations shift toward hotel, dining, and entertainment offerings that older riverboat layouts can't easily support. For PENN specifically, the project adds another modernized property to a portfolio the company has been steadily upgrading market by market, and gives it a stronger footprint in the Omaha metro area as it competes for both local gaming traffic and hotel/dining business tied to the broader entertainment package.