In a victory for the city of Richmond, Virginia, Circuit Court Judge William Marchant said a local non-profit group opposed to holding another referendum on a proposed casino had no standing to intervene.
Marchant’s ruling in favor of the city’s petition to hold a second voter referendum will allow the vote to take place as planned on November 7. Richmond voters narrowly rejected the proposed Southside casino in 2021 and city officials have been pursuing a re-vote ever since.
The local group, Richmond Lodge No. 1 of the Good Lions Inc., which hosts charitable gambling twice a week, had filed a motion to stop the referendum, claiming that allowing the casino vote would be unconstitutional. Also, the group argued a new casino would significantly impact its income.
In his opinion, Marchant wrote, “This judicial proceeding in which Good Lions seeks to intervene, is merely the last step in an administrative process for the placing of a referendum on the ballot. It is not an adversary proceeding with adverse parties and issues to be litigated. There are no plaintiffs or defendants, there is no contest of rights, and as such, the Court finds that this limited non-adversarial judicial proceeding is not amenable to intervention by a party seeking assertion or protection of claims or rights. Further, the Court finds that Good Lion has not identified any ‘right’ involved in this limited judicial proceeding.”
State Senator Chap Peterson, who represented Good Lions in court, said the judge’s decision was “unfortunate.”
In a statement, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said the $562 million casino, to be developed by Churchill Downs Inc. and Urban One, would “change the economic trajectory of the Southside for years to come. If approved this November, the proposed destination resort and casino will provide 1,300 good paying jobs and an estimated $30 million in annual revenue to tackle our community’s greatest needs.”
Richmond is one of five economically distressed cities in Virginia legislated to host a casino. Voter referendums passed in Bristol, Danville, Norfolk and Portsmouth, where casinos already are operating.
