The Cordish Companies on Tuesday gained market access to a gaming state it’s desperately sought entry to for years.
Voters in Petersburg, Va. heavily supported a local referendum for a $1.4 billion mixed-use development that includes a $600 million casino resort called Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia. With 100% of the city’s precincts reporting, the Petersburg casino question passed with 82% backing.
Cordish, the Baltimore-based hospitality, entertainment, and gaming conglomerate that operates Live!-branded casinos in Maryland and Pennsylvania, is partnered with NFL Hall of Famer Bruce Smith and his Virginia real estate firm Bruce Smith Enterprise on the Petersburg project.
We are deeply gratified by the community’s affirmation of this project and very hopeful about the meaningful impact it will have on the city’s future,” said Smith. “The casino will not only create good-paying jobs for our residents but will also attract visitors statewide and beyond, stimulating local businesses and in turn producing an overall ripple effect of economic growth.”
“This marks a monumental step forward for the Petersburg community, as the approval paves the way for the development of a world-class casino and entertainment destination that promises to revitalize the local economy, create jobs, and invest in much-needed community services,” added a statement from Cordish.
Project Overview
Cordish and Bruce Smith will initially invest $600 million to bring a Las Vegas-style integrated resort to Petersburg, which is located roughly 25 miles south of the Richmond capital. The project includes a 200-room hotel with eight restaurants and bars, 35K square feet of convention facilities, a 3,000-seat concert hall, and a casino floor with 1,600 slot machines, 46 live dealer table games, a 15-table poker room, and a sportsbook.
Over its first decade in operation, the developers project the resort will deliver the region an economic impact of $2.8 billion, generate more than half of a billion dollars in state and local tax revenue, and create thousands of well-paying jobs with average annual compensation and benefits of around $70K.
While construction of the permanent resort takes place, Cordish and Bruce Smith say they’ll run a temporary gaming facility featuring approximately 1,000 slots, 23 tables, a poker room, and a bar and casual restaurant.
Subsequent development phases after the casino resort is up and running are to include an additional hotel, residential housing, office space, and retail shopping.
How We Got Here
Petersburg wasn’t supposed to have a casino. In 2020, Virginia lawmakers and then-Gov. Ralph Northam (D) passed a bill designating five cities for casinos — Norfolk, Portsmouth, Bristol, Danville, and Richmond.
The legislation mandated that casinos could only come to those towns following local referendums expressing support for a gaming undertaking. During the 2020 election, all but Richmond held successful ballots approving the casinos.
Richmond, which garnered the most interest from casino operators, including Cordish, held its gaming referendum in 2021 after city officials picked Urban One, a Black-owned media conglomerate with zero experience building or operating a casino, in a partnership with gaming firm Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E).
Richmonders that year voted 51%-49% against the casino called One Casino + Resort. Richmond city officials then fielded a second referendum, this time with Churchill Downs and Urban One after the Kentucky-based racing and gaming giant acquired P2E, but Richmonders more strongly rejected the gaming question with 58% opposed.
At the request of Petersburg, state lawmakers amended the 2020 gaming statute to allow the independent city in Dinwiddie County to mull a gaming project.
Petersburg satisfies Cordish’s long desire to enter the Virginia gaming industry. The company unsuccessfully sued Norfolk on grounds that it should have been its preferred gaming developer stemming from a 2013 partnership it held to redevelop the city’s Waterside District.
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