Morrissey’s Petersburg casino bill fails in Senate Finance

Updated Friday, Feb. 3

With an 7-8 no vote Thursday evening, the Virginia Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee killed state Sen. Joe Morrissey’s measure to bring a casino referendum to Petersburg’s ballots this fall. A similar bill in the House of Delegates, however, is still alive.

A few days after receiving support from the Senate gaming subcommittee and the General Laws and Technology Committee, which sent the bill to Senate Finance with an 11-4 vote Wednesday, eight senators — Republicans and Democrats — voted ‘no’ on a motion to report the bill for a Senate floor vote. Seven others voted to send the bill on for a full Senate vote.

As the matter stands, Petersburg could still have a referendum for a $1.4 billion casino development this fall, or Richmond voters could vote a second time on a proposed casino.

Although the measure took about five minutes in the busy finance committee agenda, supporters and opponents of a Petersburg casino came out in force to testify at the gaming subcommittee meeting last week. Morrissey’s bill would have added Petersburg to the list of cities eligible to host a casino in the state, and it effectively would have prevented Richmond from holding a second casino referendum vote this fall, following a 2021 defeat.

Del. Kim Taylor’s bill, which also adds Petersburg to the list of five eligible cities and would not allow Richmond to hold a referendum, was reported to the House Appropriations committee by a General Laws subcommittee this week in a 5-2 vote. On Friday, the House Appropriations committee voted 12-9 to send the bill to a full vote. One Democrat, Del. Mark Sickles, joined Republicans in voting yes on the motion.

According to the state Department of Planning and Budget, the proposed legislation would not have an impact on state spending, but additional Virginia Lottery and Petersburg staffing and operational spending would be necessary.

Most opponents to the bills are city of Richmond officials, who have backed a second chance at passing a referendum to allow construction of Urban One Inc.’s proposed $565 million ONE Casino + Resort in the city’s South Side.

Boosters of the bills are mainly Petersburg officials; Petersburg City Council signed a commitment with Baltimore-based commercial real estate company The Cordish Cos. in October 2022 to develop a Live! Casino & Hotel resort, pending passage of Morrissey’s and Taylor’s bills and Petersburg voters’ support of a casino referendum this fall. Cordish officials have promised to spend $1.4 billion to build a casino, hotel and parking garage, as well as a multiuse development on the surrounding 90 acres, producing 1,800 direct jobs. The Maryland-based company, which has developed casinos across the mid-Atlantic and Florida, said it is not interested in developing a casino if Petersburg and Richmond both got the green light to build casinos.

“We will continue to work with local leaders and members of the General Assembly to bring a transformative urban revitalization project to Petersburg that will generate desperately needed new jobs for Petersburg, along with substantial additional tax revenue for the city and commonwealth,” Zed Smith, Cordish’s chief operating officer, said in a statement Thursday night.

When the state legalized commercial casinos in 2020, it limited the options for casinos to one facility apiece in five economically disadvantaged cities — Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Richmond. Morrissey and other proponents of a Petersburg casino said that the city — which has suffered serious financial setbacks in recent decades — deserved a chance to bring in a casino before giving Richmond a second bite at the apple.

“Petersburg was much more of a natural fit,” Morrissey said in a November 2022 interview with Virginia Business. “The casino legislation was to help struggling cities in the commonwealth, not counties or cities that were going gangbusters. You had to work to construct language that allowed Richmond to fit into one of the five host cities.”

Morrissey and Taylor’s staffs did not respond to requests for comment Thursday evening.