While delivering a deer carcass to Virginia Governor Ralph Northam as part of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe’s annual tax tribute since 1677, Chief Robert Gray said the tribe hopes to announce the location of its proposed casino within the next few months. It owns 600 acres in New Kent County but residents have resisted the state’s first tribal casino. “We only want to go where we’re welcome. New Kent is just one option we have open,” Gray said.
The Pamunkey casino could be located anywhere within their traditional territory, which covers the Richmond area to Jamestown. Gray said as soon as the tribe reaches an agreement with a local government, it will start the lengthy federal land-trust process. He added the Pamunkey would pursue a gambling compact with the state. The tribe won federal recognition in 2015.
Gray said a casino would provide jobs and revenue that would allow the tribe to “stand alone as our own sovereign nation. Health, culture, housing, education, those are the big ones.”
