The Pamunkey Indian Tribe is negotiating with the city of Norfolk, Virginia to purchase 20 acres on Hampton Roads around Harbor Park for its proposed $700 million casino, which would be the first in the state. The casino resort would include gambling facilities, a hotel and entertainment venue. Tribal spokesman Jay Smith said the casino would generate more than $1 billion in economic impact for the state and have a $700 million payroll.
Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander said, “After looking at other cities, they chose Norfolk. The tribe’s decision validates Norfolk as an emerging destination for tourism in the mid-Atlantic, and the center for entertainment in Hampton Roads.” Greater Norfolk has a population of more than 1.7 million.
Earlier this year, financial backer Jon Yarbrough purchased 600 acres in New Kent County on behalf of the tribe. But Chief Robert Gray said Hampton Roads made sense “from a business standpoint.”
Still, several steps—and years—will be required before the casino becomes a reality. The tribe must determine if it wants to offer Class III Las Vegas-style gambling which would require state approval, or Class II gambling which does not. Also the land must be placed into federal trust; to qualify, it must be “ancestral” land. Gray said the tribe’s ancestors lived, farmed and hunted across much of central and eastern Virginia, including the Norfolk area. But former Chief Kevin Brown said the claim that Norfolk is ancestral Pamunkey land “a long stretch.” Helen Rountree, a professor emeritus of anthropology at Old Dominion University, who has extensively studied Virginia Indians, said, “The present day Pamunkeys will have real difficulty proving that their territory extended all the way to Norfolk.”
Still, a Wason Center survey of registered voters indicated 64 percent of Hampton Roads residents support a tribal casino in the area. Downtown Norfolk Council Marketing Director Jessica said the Pamunkey casino resort would make the city a destination.
