General Assembly starts Wednesday as casino battle between Petersburg, Richmond comes to a head
RICHMOND — The Virginia General Assembly convenes for its 2023 session Wednesday, and along with that comes a high-stakes game between Petersburg and Richmond over who gets to host the fifth and final casino in Virginia.
The war of words between the cities that has gone on since Petersburg entered the gambling fray last year intensified as the session's launch drew closer, with Richmond's mayor saying Monday the city is all-in on getting a second crack at voting on a casino referendum this November, and Petersburg proponents essentially telling Richmond the next day to back off and let Petersburg have itsa shot..
At stake in the game are two resorts, one multi-million and one topping the $1 billion mark, that are being promoted as financial saviors to two areas hard hit by financial issues. If Petersburg wins, then Richmond cannot for at least five years vote to bring a casino to town. If Richmond wins, then the developer for the proposed Petersburg casino will fold its hand and walk away from the table.
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney sent a letter to his city's Assembly delegation in which he said will "clarify my position" on the Richmond casino. He urged the Richmond delegation to block any and all legislation that "constricts the rights of Richmond" to have the resort.
In November 2021, Richmond voters narrowly defeated the casino referendum which Stoney and Richmond leaders blamed on misinformation about the project and a huge push of opposition from other areas not in the 8th District where the casino was proposed. That defeat sparked Petersburg's entry into the casino sweepstakes.
Richmond City Council made the casino referendum its top legislative priority for the 2023 session.
"I remain committed to ensuring Richmonders have a fair chance of truly expressing their support for a referendum on this topic in 2023," Stoney said in the letter.
Media company Urban One wants to build a $565 million casino and hotel near Philip Morris USA in south Richmond.
State Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Chesterfield, and Del. Kim Taylor, R-Dinwiddie, are sponsoring identical legislation that would allow Petersburg to vote on a casino referendum this November while simultaneously preventing Richmond from doing the same until after the Petersburg casino has been in operation for at least one year.
The Cordish Companies is proposing a $1.4 billion multi-use development for the Wagner Road area in south Petersburg. At the center of the development would be a 600,000-square foot casino and hotel. However, Cordish said that if the General Assembly opts for casinos in both Richmond and Petersburg, it would drop out.
In a message Tuesday to The Progress-Index, Morrissey compared the Stoney letter to former President Donald Trump's refusal to accept his 2020 re-election defeat.
"Let me remind the mayor, once again, that he lost the casino referendum in 2021 when RVA voted 'no' to the casino referendum," Morrissey wrote in the message. He put the words "lost" and "no" in capital letters for emphasis.
"So I would tell the mayor to stop acting like a petulant child, move out of the way, and allow the citizens of Petersburg to vote yea or nay on a casino referendum," Morrissey added.
In his letter, Stoney tried to use to the city's advantage the findings of a Joint Legislative Audit Review Commission-sanctioned study that stated while Petersburg would be a good landing spot for a casino, having gambling parlors in both Petersburg and Richmond would bring even greater econnomic benefit. That study said that a Petersburg casino by itself would generate 18% of net gambling revenue for the state, but having a casino also in Richmond would increase that gaming revenue to 29%.
Stoney said in his letter that "speaks volumes about the opportunity" a Richmond casino would bring.
"The benefit of this potential economic development project will without a doubt encourage economic opportunity and vitality in a part of our city that has often been forgotten," he wrote.
Morrissey, Taylor and Petersburg's local elected leaders say they are not interested in having two casinos. They vowed to fight any attempts by Richmond to amend or kill their legislation during the 2023 session.
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Fight over Virginia casino expected in 2023 General Assembly
