Voters in Petersburg, Virginia approved a new billion-dollar retail casino and entertainment district Tuesday. The vote could, indirectly, further hinder online casino gaming efforts in the commonwealth.
With roughly 50% of the vote counted, approval was up roughly 80% to 20%. This means the Cordish Companies, the casino operator preemptively awarded the bid ahead of Election Day, could break ground on the massive mixed-use project as early as next year. It will also give one of the nation’s most outspoken online gambling opponents a more powerful voice in what is already a controversial issue.
Virginia online casino gaming impact
Cordish manages casinos under the Live! brand in Maryland and Pennsylvania and is developing a property in Louisiana. Company officials have opposed online slots and table games, arguing it harms brick-and-mortar revenues. Most other major American casino gambling stakeholders oppose that position and support iGaming.
The company’s opposition helped kill iGaming legislation in Maryland in 2024. Cordish aligned with some of the state’s brick-and-mortar casino unions to lobby lawmakers against the legislation, arguing it would diminish in-person gambling establishment visitation, harming employment and other affiliated businesses’ bottom lines.
By Nov. 5 we'll know if voters in Petersburg, Virginia have approved Cordish Companies to build the $1.4 billion Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia mixed-use entertainment district; if approved it would house VA's fifth casino
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) October 23, 2024
[April 2024 renderings of the project via Cordish] pic.twitter.com/J85m3smTRT
Virginia lawmakers have not seriously considered iGaming legislation but elected officials have increasingly warmed to legal gambling expansion after centuries of opposition. Neighboring West Virginia already has legal iGaming and other Mid-Atlantic states including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware offer real-money online casino games.
Having an in-state gambling stakeholder oppose online casino gaming would be a major political obstacle in what has already been a difficult legislative endeavor. Thirty-eight states, including Virginia, have approved legal sportsbooks but only seven have legal iCasinos.
Casino set to break ground
Ahead of a potential legislative battle over online gaming, Virginia will break ground on its fifth brick-and-mortar casino.
The proposed $1.4 billion project calls for more than 400,000 square feet of gaming, hotel and dining space, according to a Cordish press release after the company was awarded the bid earlier this year. The casino floor expects to house more than 1,500 slot machines and nearly 50 table games.
The release also says Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia will allocate room for a retail sportsbook. Cordish is partnered with FanDuel for its retail sportsbook at Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland but it's unclear what (if any) partner the company would work with at its Virginia property.
Unlike most other states, Virginia does not require mobile sportsbook operators to partner with a brick-and-mortar casino. The latest casino opening will have no impact on the state’s online sports betting market.
Live! Virginia will join four other Virginia casinos, all in the southern half of the Commonwealth.
Hard Rock manages a property nearing completion in Bristol, along the Tennessee border, while Caesars is set to finalize its Danville property, adjacent to North Carolina, by next year. Neither Tennessee nor North Carolina have legal commercial casinos.
Rush Street Gaming has already completed its Rivers Casino in Portsmouth. Boyd Gaming and the Pamunkey Tribe broke ground on a casino in Norfolk earlier this month.
The approval by Petersburg voters comes after two unsuccessful attempts to open a casino in Richmond, 20 miles north.
