In North Carolina, officials at Camp Carefree in Rockingham County are protesting the possibility of a casino being built nearby. The camp serves children with chronic illnesses and disabilities.
Camp officials said they recently learned the county planning board was considering a rezoning request from NC Development Holdings, which is associated with Maryland-based casino developer Cordish Companies, according to Secretary of State records.
Camp Carefree Program Director Ryan Joyce told WNCN, “We just don’t want a development like this to impact our summer program and take away from these kids who already don’t have a lot. This is not something that’s going to be beneficial for the community.”
However, the camp can relax, at least temporarily, since the planning board voted 5-2 against rezoning the land near the camp. The 5-member county board of commissioners will have the final say on the decision; their next meeting will be August 21.
Of note is the fact that Kevin Berger, the son of Republican Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger, is a member of the county board of commissioners.
Senator Berger, who represents Rockingham County, recently said the odds of lawmakers passing a bill legalizing additional casinos and other gaming options by the end of the summer is “better than 50/50.” He noted, “It’s something that can create a fairly substantial additional revenue stream. That revenue stream right now is headed north into Virginia.”
Berger said he recently visited the new temporary Caesars Virginia casino in Danville, less than an hour from the potential Rockingham County site. He said about “80 percent” of the license plates in the parking lot were from North Carolina.
That observation was confirmed by the conservative group Greater Carolina, which recently released a Spectrum Gaming study about adding new casinos in Rockingham, Anson, and Nash counties. The study indicated “casino leakage to Virginia” totaled nearly $259 million in annual gross gaming revenue.
A Berger spokesman told WNCN, “Expanding gaming in North Carolina remains a conversation in the General Assembly, but what that expansion looks like has not been determined. Senator Berger is supportive of efforts to expand gaming, but it is still too early in the discussions to comment on any specifics.”
