While Richmond officials plan for a second gaming referendum, state Senator Joe Morrissey (D-Petersburg) is leading a legislative effort to reallocate Richmond’s casino opportunity to nearby Petersburg, just south of the capital.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The JLARC study released this week found that Petersburg would attract adequate gamblers should the town be allowed to open a casino property. JLARC estimates that a Petersburg casino would generate $204 million in gross gaming revenue in its first full year in operation. That would lead to almost $25 million in tax revenue, with about half remaining in Petersburg, plus the creation of approximately 1,300 permanent jobs.<\/p>\n
Morrissey represents Petersburg and parts of Richmond, but he’s not in favor of re-asking Richmonders about a casino.<\/p>\n
\nRichmond had their chance,” <\/strong>Morrissey said this week. “They had a referendum and the people spoke.”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nJLARC took no formal position on whether allowing Petersburg to consider a casino is in the state and region’s best interests. Instead, the review commission investigated the financial performance of various theoretical casino scenarios.<\/p>\n
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If Richmond and Petersburg both open casinos, JLARC says the Richmond casino would be expected to generate about $250 million in annual gross gaming revenue (GGR). But the close competition would push the Petersburg casino’s annual GGR lower to around $140 million annually. If Richmond opens a casino but Petersburg does not, the capital casino would be projected to win more than $300 million off of gamblers a year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
JLARC was assisted by the Innovation Group, a gaming research and advisory firm, in forecasting GGR for the potential casinos.<\/p>\n
2023 Legislative Showdown<\/b><\/h2>\n Morrissey plans to reintroduce legislation to designate Petersburg as a qualifying casino city when the state General Assembly convenes in January 2023. Richmond’s local leaders are also expected to reinitiate their quest for a second casino referendum.<\/p>\n
\nIt’s pretty obvious this is going to be a major issue in the upcoming session,” <\/strong>said Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax), who chairs both JLARC and the Senate Finance and Appropriation Committee. “It’s likely to be a brawl.”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nMorrissey says two casinos aren’t feasible, despite JLARC saying both would be profitable.<\/p>\n
“We want a destination resort in Petersburg. If there are two casinos 25 miles from each other, they would cannibalize each other,” Morrissey concluded.<\/p>\n
Petersburg announced this week it’s partnering with Baltimore-based Cordish Companies to build a casino should one be authorized in the city. The closest casinos in development<\/a> to the Richmond-Petersburg area are the Portsmouth-Norfolk properties being built about 60 miles southeast. Morrissey has criticized the allowance of both Portsmouth and Norfolk building casinos, as the two cities neighbor one another in Hampton Roads.<\/p>\nThe Pamunkey Indian Tribe and gaming billionaire Jon Yarbrough are partnering on a $500 million casino in Norfolk called HeadWaters Resort & Casino. Rivers Gaming has been approved to build a $300 million casino in Portsmouth called Rivers Casino Portsmouth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Virginia casino study conducted by the state’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) has found Petersburg suitable to become a host gaming town. In 2020, Virginia authorized a single casino development in the cities of Richmond, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Bristol, and Danville. Each commercial gaming development required the local support of voters by way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":238295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,61],"tags":[83326,82130,81995],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Virginia Casino Study Finds Petersburg Suitable for Gaming Development<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n