In Virginia, the competition for a casino continues between Richmond and Petersburg. Legislation allowing legal casino gambling passed in 2020, sponsored by House Appropriations Chairman Barry Knight and Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas.
Richmond was one of five cities approved for a casino following referendums in each. However, in 2021, Richmond voters narrowly rejected the proposed $600 million ONE casino resort.
Following that defeat, Richmond officials and Lucas tried to hold a re-vote on the issue. But officials in Petersburg, with the help of state Senator Joe Morrissey, successfully blocked that attempt as part of the state budget, preventing a second Richmond referendum before 2023. They want to move forward with a proposed $1.4 billion casino in Petersburg.
Knight recently told the Richmond Times-Dispatch he “made a mistake” by not clarifying if voters in the five designated casino cities could hold a second referendum on the issue if it was rejected. “The law looks like it’s a little bit ambiguous,” he said, adding that Richmond “had a referendum. It failed. They’re done.” Knight said the proposed Petersburg casino “is absolutely still alive.”
Lucas still insists Richmond should be able to hold a second vote on allowing a casino there. She wants to prevent Petersburg officials and politicians from blocking a second referendum in Richmond to vote on a Petersburg casino. “I’m working as hard as I can to make sure that spot remains open for Richmond, not for Petersburg,” Lucas told the Times-Dispatch.
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney has not as yet petitioned the circuit court to put another casino referendum on the November ballot.
In a statement, Stoney said, “I’ve been clear from the start that I support a casino in Richmond. The more than 1,500 well-paying jobs and estimated $30 million in additional annual revenue generated from this project would enable us to lift up many families in our community, especially in South Richmond. It will also allow us to expand funding options for critical community needs, such as public schools and community infrastructure.”
Morrissey and state Del. Kim Taylor want lawmakers to again block a second Richmond vote in the budget and get approval for a Petersburg casino in the next legislative session, which will convene in January following elections in November for all 140 seats in newly drawn political districts−including Morrissey’s and Taylor’s. “We’re still hoping Richmond will be blocked. They had their chance. Petersburg simply should have the right to vote on this,” Taylor said.
Youngkin has not declared where he stands on the Petersburg casino or if he would try to amend any budget agreement to prevent a second vote in Richmond.
Bob Holsworth, a longtime political scientist in Richmond, told the Times-Dispatch, “It poses a challenge to the kind of moralism that underpins Youngkin’s conservatism. I’m not sure he wants to be the person who is identified as bringing a casino to Petersburg. That hasn’t been part of his Petersburg revival message.”
Meanwhile, the Richmond Crusade for Voters, founded almost 70 years ago during the civil rights movement, has begun a campaign called “Our City, Our Right to Vote” to prevent lawmakers from blocking a second Richmond casino referendum, like they did last year.
Former Richmond City Councilman Marty Jewell, vice president of the Crusade, told the Times-Dispatch, “We don’t want the right to vote on this to be taken away. This is the first and only time such a budget measure has ever been passed to deny residents of a city their right to vote,” especially a majority Black city.”
A state legislative study concluded both Petersburg and Richmond both could support casinos. However, the Cordish Companies has indicated it will not build its proposed Petersburg casino resort if Richmond, just 25 miles away, also builds one.
