Petersburg casino referendum could take place in 2024

Petersburg voters will likely get the opportunity to vote on a casino referendum this fall, as a Virginia General Assembly obstacle has been removed from its path.

SB 628, sponsored by Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, replaces Richmond with Petersburg among Virginia cities eligible to host a casino following approval by voters on a ballot. An earlier version of the bill had required a second General Assembly vote in 2025 before the law could take effect, but Gov. Glenn Youngkin removed that section of the measure this spring.

On Wednesday, both legislative bodies passed Youngkin’s version — meaning a vote could take place this fall in Petersburg, expediting the possible development of a casino resort in the city.

“After two previous failed attempts, in my first Senate session, the General Assembly has officially given its support to allow the citizens of Petersburg to have a referendum vote on a casino,” Aird said in a statement Wednesday. “I made a promise to give my community this opportunity, and today I delivered on that promise. While voters will have the final say on whether a casino becomes a reality, this legislation has the potential for multimillion-dollar economic investment to be made in a community that both needs and truly deserves it.”

Petersburg’s city council, the Virginia Lottery Board and the Petersburg Circuit Court must also approve the addition of the referendum to the 2024 local ballot, but those are largely administrative tasks that are not expected to affect the referendum’s progress to voters.

Wednesday’s vote will be good news to some Petersburg officials and the five development groups vying for an opportunity to build a casino in Petersburg. Bruce Smith, a Virginia Beach developer and NFL Hall of Fame member who is partnering with Baltimore-based casino company Cordish Cos., has been outspoken about the legislative obstacle, calling for House Speaker Don Scott to pass Youngkin’s amended version of the bill in recent interviews.

“Now’s not the time to play politics with the people of Petersburg,” Smith said last week in an interview with Virginia Business, directing his remarks toward Scott. “They need this economic development opportunity — more so than any other city in the state of Virginia. This is a critical time. That is costing the city money [and] jobs, trying to alleviate the problems of food deserts [and] underfunded schools. We can’t allow folks to say one thing and do another. The time to act is now, and all we’re asking for is to … take the reenactment clause right out of the bill.”

Bally’s, Cordish Cos., Penn Entertainment, Rush Street Gaming and The Warrenton Group are the five contenders in Petersburg, and Aird hosted a town hall on Sunday at which representatives of the development teams presented details of their proposed casino resorts.

The Virginia State Senate passed the amended bill 32-8 on Wednesday afternoon, moving it to the House of Delegates for consideration. Because the House of Delegates had added the reenactment clause to the earlier measure, the bill’s fate was slightly less certain in that body, but the bill passed 80-19 in the House.

In 2020, the state legalized commercial casinos to be built in five economically underserved cities: Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Richmond. The first four cities passed casino referendums easily in 2020, but Richmonders voted down casino referendums in 2021 and 2023. Petersburg’s process would be similar to the other cities’ processes, requiring the city council to choose a casino operator and a city referendum to win for the plan to move forward.