Casino projects are taking shape in Virginia, with a few notable glitches.
For example, in Portsmouth, the city council delayed until May 25 voting on issuing grant use permits and rezoning the property for an entertainment district on behalf of the $300 million Rivers Casino and Hotel. Interim City Attorney Burle Stromberg noted those votes will be the final ones the council will make to approve the casino. The project is expected to create 1,400 construction jobs and 1,300 permanent jobs.
Council members who approved delaying the vote said two weeks wasn’t much time, considering a casino operator license probably would not be issued by the Virginia Lottery Board for several months. City officials have said they hope that approval will be granted this fall. At a recent Lottery Board meeting, Lottery Executive Director Kevin said he expected to open the operator license application process “in a matter of weeks,” then conducting the “in-depth financial and criminal background investigations” of the applicants could take up to a year. The license fee will be $15 million.
Voting in favor of delaying zoning permits, Councilman Paul Battle said he’s heard other council members say they were “blown away” by developer Rush Street Gaming’s plans but so far he’s underwhelmed. “I want to get blown away, too,” Battle said. Councilman Christopher Woodard stated Portsmouth shouldn’t try to be just the first city to open a casino, but it should be the best casino, referring to Rush Street officials’ earlier comments that they want Rivers Casino to be the first to open in Virginia.
Councilman Bill Moody said he was ready to approve the zoning changes and permits. “To defer it, I think there needs to be a valid reason, and I haven’t heard a reason,” he said. Councilman Christopher Woodard and Councilwoman Lisa Lucas-Burke both visited Rush Street’s Philadelphia casino and were impressed by what they saw, including the positive effect on the surrounding community. Those in favor of an immediate vote also noted two-thirds of voters in the November election said they favored the casino project.
In another casino-approved city, Richmond, attorney Dennis Cotto said he plans to file a lawsuit in Richmond Circuit Court later this month to determine if the city’s casino selection process is legal. Cotto, representing the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino which was eliminated from the casino competition, claims the city had no authority to ignore procurement laws that would have granted Golden Nugget “an administrative process from which to seek redress or appeal.”
Cotto said, “This is a matter of principle. There cannot be a procurement which is not subject to procurement rules and procedures” to prevent fraud, corruption and arbitrary decision-making. He added, “I’ve lost bids before, but I’ve always gotten a debriefing. I wasn’t always happy with what I was told, but at least I had my day. This time, I was told there would be no debriefing as to why Golden Nugget’s proposal was rejected, and that is a first in my experience.”
Cotto previously took his complaint to the Virginia Lottery, which regulates state gambling; it declined to intervene, noting the state’s new casino law giving the city sole authority to select its preferred casino operator. Cotto also appealed to state Attorney General Mark R. Herring but has not heard back from him.
Cotto said other procurement specialists he consulted agreed he has a strong case. He noted the Virginia Legislature did not include any language exempting the city from the state purchasing statute or the procurement ordinances in Chapter 21 of the City Code. By ignoring those laws, Cotto said, Richmond has eliminated bidders’ rights to due process, which he called a fundamental element of public procurement.
Cotto added City Hall’s March 24 announcement that the six casino bidders had been reduced to three finalists was issued two weeks before the official end of the city’s publicly advertised virtual meeting and online comment period. Also, Cotto said the city’s reason for eliminating the Golden Nugget was invalid.
He said Leonard Sledge, the city’s development director and the contract officer for the casino procurement, wrote in a March 25 email that the Golden Nugget did not have site control of its preferred South Side location and did not provide a timetable for selecting an alternate site.
Cotto said neither is required by the RFP the city issued, and in fact, Golden Nugget did provide a timetable. However, Cotto said, since the city is ignoring procurement laws, Golden Nugget has no way to challenge the decision.
The city is seeking a casino resort that would create 2,000 jobs, opportunities for minority business suppliers and $30 million or more in new annual tax revenue.
Cotto said his lawsuit could prevent the city’s chosen casino from appearing on the November 2 ballot for voter approval before early voting begins Friday, September 17. One of the two remaining finalists is the Cordish Companies, which proposes a casino on the Movieland site and is opposed by 14 civic organizations over traffic, crime and other concerns. Public support seems to be growing for Urban One, the other finalist, which has proposed a casino resort in a commercial area and has the support of two civic groups, the Richmond Highway Neighborhood Civic Association, have announced support.
Meanwhile in Bristol, world-renowned poker player JJ Liu has purchased the Bristol Arcadia Inn, located near the coming Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Bristol.
The Taiwan-born Liu is a real estate developer, broker, investor and former Silicon Valley software engineer. She’s won more than $3.3 million in poker tournaments and is a member of the Women’s Poker Hall of Fame.
She said she visited Bristol and moved quickly to purchase the 84-room, former Comfort Inn near the Hard Rock development as soon as the city’s gaming referendum passed last November. “I understand the business can bring in a lot of opportunities here, so I was very excited,” she said.
The hotel was completely booked the recent race weekend and Liu knows poker tournaments can draw in thousands of visitors to a location. “Two weeks ago in Fort Lauderdale, Hard Rock Casino, all the hotels sold out. Usually they have tournaments for months to two months. This is a great event for business,” she said.
Liu added, “People here are very nice, very loyal. It’s just incredible community and such a nice place to live. You know I travel all over the world, and it’s just such beautiful place. Bristol, I think, is paradise.”
