Second Petersburg casino bill dies in Senate committee

Updated Friday, Feb. 17

Petersburg voters won’t get an opportunity to approve a casino this fall, and Richmond may get a second chance to vote on a casino referendum in 2023, state legislators decided Thursday in a 10-6 vote. However, the matter could come down to last-minute state budget negotiations.

The Virginia State Senate’s Finance and Appropriations Committee killed a House of Delegates bill Thursday that would have placed a referendum on Petersburg ballots in November and prevented a second referendum for Richmond, where voters defeated a casino referendum in 2021. Without a law stopping Richmond from holding another referendum, one could appear on city ballots this year.

In 2022, state lawmakers blocked a second referendum in Richmond and ordered a study by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) that indicated that both Richmond and Petersburg could successfully host casinos.

The Senate Finance committee voted down a similar bill from Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond, earlier in the month, but the measure from Del. Kim Taylor, R-Dinwiddie, survived multiple votes in the House, including a 49-44 floor vote with one abstention, which allowed the bill to proceed to the Senate for consideration.

Sen. Dick Saslaw made an amendment to the bill requiring that Cordish would pay the prevailing local wage listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a change that was passed by voice vote. Ultimately, though, Sen. Louise Lucas, who has been a longtime supporter of casino legalization, made a motion to pass the bill by indefinitely, which won with 10 “yes” votes.

“When we started down this path, we all agreed that we will be more methodical about the way we go about establishing casinos in the commonwealth of Virginia,” Lucas said.

Lucas twice opposed the twin bills, although Democratic Sen. David Marsden and Republican Sen. Frank M. Ruff Jr. switched their votes, with Marsden voting against the Taylor bill and Ruff voting for it, after taking opposite positions on Morrissey’s bill, which failed 7-8.

Boosters of the bill were 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 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 was not interested in developing a casino if Petersburg and Richmond both got the green light to build.

However, Cordish was not giving up the fight yet, as the state legislature continues negotiations to reconcile differing budgets from the House and the Senate, leaving some hope for a future referendum in Petersburg, if not this year.

“Our $1.4 billion urban revitalization project would be transformational for Petersburg, with 4,000 new jobs and millions of dollars in additional local and state tax revenue,” Zed Smith, Cordish’s chief operating officer, said in a statement Thursday. “As the General Assembly continues its deliberations, we hope the state’s elected leaders will explore every avenue to help provide this major economic development boost to Petersburg.”

Morrissey said Friday afternoon that “the game … is still in play. I fully expect there will be budget language preventing Richmond from holding a referendum anywhere in the next one to five years.” According to a Richmond Times-Dispatch article, House Appropriations Chairman Barry Knight, R-Virginia Beach, said it’s “absolutely an option” to pause a second Richmond casino referendum. Morrissey confirmed that this is a possibility; Knight was not available for comment Friday afternoon.

What Morrissey suggested could happen is that the House of Delegates’ budget conferees would insert language preventing Richmond from holding a referendum that could be part of a compromise budget between the House and the state Senate. Currently, the two bodies’ budget amendments differ widely, with the Republican-controlled House supporting $1 billion in tax cuts while the Democratic-held Senate seeks school spending in the same amount. The Senate and House money committees will continue to meet next week as the General Assembly session winds down, and the governor can call a special session if necessary to pass an amended budget.

“It’s early in the fourth quarter, and this game is going to be won late in the fourth quarter and possibly in the last two minutes,” Morrissey said. He added that he was “really upset” about Lucas’ vote to pass by Taylor’s bill, saying that she was putting “rich white casino developers” ahead of Black residents of Petersburg, and that she had told him the developers of the Norfolk and Portsmouth casinos in her district didn’t want the competition from Cordish in Petersburg. Lucas’ office did not immediately respond to messages left Friday afternoon.

Richmond officials have been largely opposed to Morrissey’s and Taylor’s bills. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and several city councilors 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. 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.

Urban One and Churchill Downs Inc. released a joint statement late Thursday:

“We appreciate the General Assembly’s careful, deliberate process and open mind in considering and addressing this important decision. For us, the process has always been about determining what is best for the commonwealth, and that answer has always been quite clear. Every study conducted has consistently revealed that a casino resort in Richmond will generate the most jobs, revenue, opportunity and economic benefits for the city, Central Virginia and the entire commonwealth.

“Now, we turn our attention to a successful referendum in November. We are eager to share our vision for this project and its many benefits including thousands of quality jobs, millions for schools and tax relief, and revitalization of neighborhoods that have too often been left behind.”