Central Va. Big Deal: Petersburg voters say ‘yes’ to a $1.4 billion casino

Petersburg voters know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em.

In November 2024, more than 80% of voters approved a casino referendum, giving the green light to Cordish Cos.’ $1.4 billion Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia, which will be built on an undeveloped, roughly 90-acre site off Interstate 95 in Petersburg.

Baltimore-based Cordish partnered with Virginia Beach developer and NFL Hall of Fame member Bruce Smith to develop the resort, which will include a casino, hotel, entertainment venue and dining establishments, all built in phases.

City officials welcome the project.

“We have been stuck. I tell people in Petersburg we’ve been stuck in the ’80s for the last 40 years,” says Petersburg Mayor Samuel Parham. The casino project “solidifies our city,” he says, making it “able to have the necessary revenues and cash flow to do the necessary upgrades that have been long overdue for a long time here. It’s just exciting to see the city grow and really move into the 21st century.”

Of course, a casino wasn’t always in the cards for Petersburg. In 2020, the Virginia General Assembly legalized the development of five casinos in five cities, pending residents’ votes on local referendums. Bristol, Danville, Norfolk and Portsmouth voters overwhelmingly voted yes, but in 2021 and 2023, Richmond voters said no to a casino. So, in 2024, state lawmakers agreed to let Petersburg get a bite of the apple.

Cordish was already a familiar name in the state, as it had been one of several contenders for Richmond’s casino project in 2021, ultimately losing out to Urban One, the Maryland-based media company.

In Petersburg, though, Cordish and Smith prevailed, receiving the city council’s approval last spring.

The project could be a game changer for Petersburg, which has been in economic and population decline since the 1980s, when its lifeline tobacco industry started to dissolve, leading to “steady deterioration of the city’s public finances,” according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

The project’s first phase, estimated at $600 million, will include a 200,000-square-foot casino, featuring 1,000 slot machines and 23 table games; a 200-room hotel; 30,000 square feet of convention and meeting space; and a 4,500-seat live performance venue, says Zed Smith, Cordish’s chief operating officer. Completion of the casino is expected in early 2026, according to Cordish.

“When we identified this site, it was most appealing to us because of the opportunity to be able to develop the site over a 10-to-15-year period,” Smith says.

Not only is the casino project anticipated to improve tourism in Petersburg and contribute $2.8 billion in economic impact and $504 million in total tax revenue, including $240 million allocated directly to the City of Petersburg, according to Cordish, but the project is expected to create thousands of jobs.

Smith says he expects to generate about 6,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent positions, with the average compensation for those jobs hitting $70,000 a year. Casino employees also can expect to qualify for health and dental insurance, as well as tuition reimbursement and access to on-site health facilities.

Cordish is also committed to hiring locally, Smith says, and the company has met with Bright Point Community College, Richard Bland College and Petersburg High School. The types of jobs available at the casino project “run the gamut,” Smith says, including entertainment, culinary arts, hotel management, restaurant management, accounting, finance, marketing and public relations.

“Our goal is to make sure that we make folks aware in the region of these job opportunities,” Smith says. “And for those that need some additional training, we want to make sure that there’s a pipeline and they get the training they need to have the potential to be a team member with us.”

There was one potential fly in the ointment for the city: A House of Delegates bill was introduced in January that would share casino revenues with the cities of Colonial Heights and Hopewell and the counties of Dinwiddie and Prince George, creating the Tri-Cities Improvement Commission to “receive disbursements of gaming tax revenues and to prioritize and fund certain improvements in those jurisdictions.”

The city released a statement pushing back against the legislation, saying that “this bill insults the residents of Petersburg. It fails to respect their voices and prioritizes political self-interest” of its backers, state Dels. Mike Cherry and Kim Taylor. In the end, Cherry withdrew the bill, but he and Taylor said the legislation was supposed to benefit the whole region.