Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Upcoming Event

Best Places to Work in Virginia

Hamburger Menu Hamburger Menu

Tag: gaming

Fairfax, Petersburg could hold casino referendums

Two pending Virginia State Senate bills would change the list of locations eligible to host a casino, adding Petersburg and Fairfax County to the mix and removing Richmond.

On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology’s gaming subcommittee met to discuss these and other measures regarding skill games, sports betting and horse racing. Both casino measures received enough votes to move forward to a full vote of the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee expected Wednesday.

Sen. Dave Marsden, D-Fairfax, sponsored SB 675, a bill that would add Fairfax County to the list of localities that could host a casino in Virginia if voters pass a referendum — although Marsden placed some restrictions on the measure, including that a casino would have to be located within a quarter-mile of an existing Metro station on the Silver Line. Also, the locality’s officials are required to consider a gaming operator’s history of paying prevailing wages to construction workers and entering into labor agreements with unions when awarding the contract.

According to WTOP, if successful, the casino would be placed in Tysons on Route 7 near the Spring Hill Metro station, on land where a car dealership was previously located. Marsden’s legislation previously included the possibility of building a casino in Reston, but after resident opposition, Reston has been excluded from consideration.

Advocating for his bill before the subcommittee, Marsden said that the MGM National Harbor Hotel & Casino in Maryland is “taking $150 million a year out of Virginia coffers,” and that Northern Virginia has suffered financially since the pandemic. He also emphasized that a casino project would include a convention center “that does not exist in Fairfax County. We’re also talking about a hotel, a concert venue and the casino itself.”

Subcommittee member Sen. Christopher Head, R-Roanoke, said he has received “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds” of emails from community members opposed to the Fairfax casino and asked whether Marsden had heard from any community groups that support a casino in Fairfax. Marsden replied that he believes MGM is stirring up opposition to a Tysons casino “to make sure that their interests are preserved, but I’m getting tired of paying for Maryland schools,” referring to Virginians spending money at the MGM casino.

Benita Thompson-Byas, senior vice president of Reston-based Thompson Hospitality, was one of a few speakers in support of a Fairfax casino and said her company would be a minority partner if the casino is approved by voters.

Another subcommittee member, Democratic Sen. Adam Ebbin of Alexandria, said he also has received “hundreds” of emails opposing a casino and said he wouldn’t support the proposal without more input from the Fairfax County government. Marsden said he has been in discussions with Fairfax supervisors who said they would follow through with due diligence if the bill progresses.

Subcommittee member Sen. Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Woodbridge, said she would vote for the bill, noting that a referendum gives Fairfax voters the ultimate choice on the matter. “They are the best ones to decide,” she said. The bill ended in a 4-4 tie, sending it to the Senate General Laws committee for a vote.

Meanwhile, Sens. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, and Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, are chief co-sponsors of SB 628, which would replace Richmond with Petersburg on the list of cities eligible to host a casino if city voters pass a referendum. No one spoke in opposition to the bill, which passed the subcommittee and will go forward for a committee vote.

Aird emphasized Petersburg’s high poverty rates and aging infrastructure as factors in the city’s favor. “Petersburg needs a transformative economic development opportunity to generate immediate revenue and provide long-term benefits,” she said. Several people representing a hospitality workers’ union wore red T-shirts and sat in the audience, showing support for the measure.

Also, Sen. Lamont Bagby, D-Richmond, sponsored SB 541 removing Richmond as an eligible host city, which passed the subcommittee unanimously. Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, sponsored a measure to reduce the number of casino-eligible cities from five to four, but struck the bill earlier Tuesday and instead supported the measure allowing Petersburg to vote on a referendum.

Republican Sen. Bryce Reeves sponsored a bill, SB 345, that would block a city from holding a second casino referendum within three years if a first referendum fails. That bill passed with seven ayes and one no vote.

Measures removing Richmond as a casino-eligible city were clear responses to last fall’s second unsuccessful referendum in Richmond to establish the $562 million Richmond Grand Resort & Casino on the city’s South Side. About 61% of city voters said “no” on November 2023 ballots to the do-over referendum, a much larger margin than in the 2021 vote, which was narrowly defeated by about 1,500 votes. During the 2023 session, Del. Kim Taylor, R-Petersburg, and former state Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Petersburg, tried unsuccessfully to get a casino referendum on Petersburg’s ballots and prevent a second vote in Richmond.

Also under consideration Tuesday was SB 124, a bill from VanValkenburg that would permit betting on Virginia college sports, except for proposition betting, such as point spreads; under current law, the state allows betting on all college sports except those played by Virginia college athletes. Illegal betting is currently a class 1 misdemeanor in Virginia. The bill passed the subcommittee and will next be voted on by the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee.

Another measure, SB 212, would create a regulatory infrastructure for so-called “skill game” machines (also called “gray machines”) in Virginia convenience stores and other small businesses. Sponsored by Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, the bill would direct the state tax department to collect a 15% monthly tax from the gross revenue of every skill game machine. As of Tuesday, the bill has been re-referred to Senate Finance and Appropriations. SB 307, a bill sponsored by Democratic Sen. Jeremy McPike, would impose a 34% tax on all gross profits from gaming devices and would send most tax proceeds to the state’s general fund. The vote was postponed to make further adjustments to the bill.

Caesars Virginia ‘tops off’ Danville casino

Caesars Virginia is a step closer to opening its permanent casino in Danville after a topping-off ceremony Thursday.

Though the temporary casino opened in May 2023, work on the permanent Caesars Virginia casino and 12-story hotel has been ongoing. The floor of the casino has been poured, metal framing is in place and the hotel structure has been fully built, with windows being placed onto the building’s facade up to the sixth floor, according to a news release from Caesars.

The hotel will have 320 rooms — a reduction from the originally announced 500 rooms — plus a swimming pool and spa.

A partnership between Caesars Entertainment and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), Caesars Virginia started construction on the casino in August 2022. The development, at the former Dan River Inc. Schoolfield mill site, is expected to be finished by the end of the year.

Chris Albrecht, senior vice president and general manager of Caesars Virginia, was excited that he doesn’t have to say “next year” or “late next year” anymore. “This has truly changed the skyline of Danville when you come from miles away and now see this great addition to the three sisters,” Albrecht said in a statement, referring to the local nickname for a trio of prominent smokestacks left over from closed textiles factories.

The topping-off ceremony, which marks the completion of the building’s framework of a building, included hoisting a tree and American flag to the highest point of the hotel, placed next to a silhouette of Gaius Julius Caesar himself.

“In my eyes, a topping-off solidifies the fact that Danville made the right choice in picking Caesars as a partner in this project,” Barron Fuller, regional president of the Southeast Region for Caesars Entertainment, said in a statement.

The 40,000-square-foot temporary casino brought in $145 million in revenue from its opening in May 2023 through the end of the year. It has more than 400 employees and officials estimated that at least 800 people will work in the permanent casino, which will feature 1,300 slots, 85 live table tames, 24 electronic table games, a poker room and sports book, along with bars, restaurants, a 2,500-seat live entertainment theater and more than 50,000 square feet of meeting and convention space.

Virginia’s first casino, the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol, opened in July 2022 in a temporary space at the former Bristol Mall after receiving licensing approval less than 90 days earlier. In December 2022, developers began construction nearby on the $500 million permanent Hard Rock casino, which is slated to open in July. The 90,000-square-foot permanent resort casino will include a 2,200-seat indoor entertainment venue, but early plans for an outdoor venue there were scrapped.

The $340 million Rivers Casino Portsmouth, which received its license in November 2022, opened its permanent space in January 2023.

The Pamunkey Indian Tribe’s license for the proposed $500 million HeadWaters Resort & Casino on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk is still pending state approval and construction has not yet started. The Norfolk Architectural Review Board is the first body to review plans for the casino, which is pending approval from Norfolk City Council. The review board was set to review the casino’s new plans during its Jan. 8 meeting, but developers continued the review until Jan. 22.

Following Richmond voters’ rejection of a proposed $562 million casino for the second time, Petersburg lawmakers are seeking to hold a casino referendum in the city, which would require the General Assembly to allow a casino in a city with a population below 200,000. State Senate Bill 268, with state Sens. Lashrecse Aird and Louise Lucas as patrons, would amend requirements for a host city to ones favorable for Petersburg, The Progress-Index reported.

100 People to Meet in 2024: Hosts

Nourishing and delighting us, these Virginians welcome us to their communities through food, hospitality and entertainment.

Chris Albrecht

Senior vice president and general manager, Caesars Virginia
Danville

In May, the temporary Caesars Virginia casino opened in Danville, led by General Manager Chris Albrecht. A Florida native, Albrecht has worked for Caesars Entertainment for 18 years and is also overseeing the construction of the $650 million permanent casino resort underway in Danville’s Schoolfield neighborhood, formerly a hub for textile manufacturing. “We’ve had really strong demand” for casino jobs, Albrecht says, adding that when the permanent casino opens in late 2024, “we’ll have three times as many table game dealers” — 400 to 500 employees serving 90 poker tables. Albrecht earned his MBA from UCLA and his bachelor’s degree in finance at MIT, but joining a poker club in business school made him take notice of the gaming industry, he says.

Ann Butler

Owner, 21 Spoons
Chesterfield County

Ann Butler opened her small, local cuisine-focused restaurant in a Midlothian shopping center in early 2021, mainly to fill unused space while the pandemic forced her to put on hold Edible Education, her business offering cooking classes to kids. So, she started 21 Spoons as a pop-up, and then in March, Southern Living magazine named it Virginia’s best locally owned restaurant — a pleasant surprise for Butler. “I’m not a 27-year-old male chef opening a restaurant.” Indeed, she is 61 now, and recommends, “Just really do follow your passion.” Butler, who also sells “Kitchen a la Cart” portable teaching kitchens, has put Edible Education up for sale so she can focus on her 21 Spoons and Kitchen a la Cart businesses.

John Haggai

CEO and president, Burtons Grill & Bar
Richmond

If you’ve eaten at an Outback Steakhouse in Virginia, chances are John Haggai was behind its opening. He started working at the Australian-themed restaurant as a busboy in 1989 while still in high school and worked his way up to management, becoming a partner before he left in 2010. He then co-founded Richmond’s Tazza Kitchen, which now has six locations throughout Virginia and the Carolinas.

Haggai took over as CEO of the growing Boston-based Burtons Grill chain in 2022, setting as a parameter that he would stay in Richmond instead of moving north, and now there’s a Burtons location in the city’s Carytown shopping district. Though it specializes in American fare, Burtons is also committed to allergy-free offerings.

“It’s food people crave and love,” Haggai says, “and it’s warm hospitality. It’s reliable.”

Caitlin Horton

Head winemaker, Horton Vineyards
Gordonsville

At 29, Caitlin Horton is Virginia’s youngest head winemaker and one of a minority of women to hold that title. “Grandma grows the grapes, and my mom is vice president and general manager. I didn’t realize it was special until later in life, to be a female-run winery in an industry that is mainly a boys’ club,” she says. Under Horton’s direction, her 40-year-old Orange County family winery yields 400 tons of grapes annually, including 18 varietals ranging from Virginia classics like viognier to lesser-known grapes like the Portuguese tinta cão. As a third-generation vintner, Horton is influenced by tradition but also driven to innovation, introducing experimental wines such as her steampunk-themed Gears & Lace line.

Check out the other 100 People to Meet in 2024.

Nasdaq triggers delisting process for Urban One

Nasdaq has begun the delisting process for Urban One, the Maryland-based media company behind the proposed casino in Richmond, because it has not filed quarterly finance reports for fiscal year 2023 on time.

The stock exchange’s notification does not affect trading of Urban One or its presence on Nasdaq yet; according to a Friday news release by Urban One, the company will “request a hearing before a Nasdaq Hearings Panel. The hearing request will automatically stay any suspension or delisting action through Oct. 20, 2023.”

A spokesperson for Urban One said Monday there won’t be any impact on the current casino referendum campaign underway in Richmond.

Urban One acknowledged in its news release that it has not yet filed financial reports for the first and second quarters of fiscal 2023 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, due to errors related to its investment in RVA Entertainment Holdings, the limited liability corporation chosen in 2021 and 2023 as the operator for the proposed $562 million casino in Richmond, which is up for a second referendum vote in November.

In its Sept. 29 news release, Urban One says that it “identified certain errors with regard to the timing of expense recognition of non-cash stock based compensation and the accounting for the company’s investment in the operations of its Richmond casino joint venture, RVA Entertainment Holdings LLC, the activities of which primarily related to 2021.” To address the issue, Urban One says it is “currently evaluating the related accounting for the non-cash stock based compensation matter and if the Company’s investment in RVA Entertainment Holdings LLC should have been consolidated during the historical periods due to its then-75% ownership interest.”

In a July board meeting, the media company dismissed BDO as its independent accounting firm and hired Ernst & Young to serve as its public accounting firm for its fiscal year 2023, which ends Dec. 31.

Nasdaq previously notified Urban One of its late SEC filings in three letters this year, starting April 3, and the stock exchange previously gave the company a 180-day extension to file 2022 Form 10-K and the Q1 2023 Form 10-Q by Sept. 27. The 10-K form was filed in June, but the 10-Q form is still outstanding.

Urban One’s news release says that it “is in the process of completing its Q1 2023 Form 10-Q and anticipates filing the delinquent reports as soon as practicable after resolution of the discrete accounting issues” related to RVA Entertainment Holdings.

In an 8-K form filed by Urban One to the SEC on Sept. 28, the company reports $109.9 million in consolidated revenue during the first quarter of the year, ending March 31.

Urban One was the majority partner in the 2021 proposed casino in Richmond, with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment as minority partner, but the city’s referendum failed by 1,200 votes in November 2021. After much jockeying in the General Assembly, Richmond voters will once again vote this fall on a casino referendum, this time a proposal by Urban One and Churchill Downs, which bought PPE late last year and now owns the state’s Rosie’s Gaming Emporium franchise and Colonial Downs.

The renamed Richmond Grand Resort & Casino, if passed by voters, would include a 250-room hotel, a 3,000-seat concert venue, a $26.5 million upfront payment to the city government, an estimated 1,300 permanent jobs with an average salary of $55,000 and a predicted $30 million in annual tax revenue and $16 million over 10 years in charitable contributions.

According to Virginia Public Access Project’s finance report for political donations made through Aug. 31, Urban One and Churchill Downs contributed $8.14 million to the Richmond Wins, Vote Yes pro-casino PAC in August, more than three times the 2021 pro-casino campaign budget of $2.6 million.

Casino backers gamble on November revote

On Aug. 31, a new name was unveiled for the proposed $562 million resort casino that Richmond voters will be reconsidering in a November referendum: the Richmond Grand Resort & Casino.

But not much else appears new about the project.

The Richmond Grand Resort & Casino seems virtually identical to the proposed ONE Casino + Resort that voters shot down in a 2021 referendum. Maryland-based Urban One once again is pitching the casino, joined by Kentucky-based Churchill Downs, which last year purchased the assets of Urban One’s previous casino partner, Peninsula Pacific Entertainment.

Just like the earlier pitch, the Richmond Grand proposal includes a 250-room hotel, a 3,000-seat concert venue and a soundstage where Urban One pledges to invest $50 million over 10 years in TV, movie and audio productions. Also like before, the casino promises to make a $26.5 million upfront payment to the city government and forecasts that it will create an estimated 1,300 permanent jobs and generate $30 million in annual tax revenue. If passed, it would be built on the same 100-acre South Side site proposed in 2021.

Urban One and Churchill Downs say the new pitch reflects an extensive survey of Richmond voters who supported and opposed the casino referendum two years ago.

Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins acknowledged at the plan’s rollout that although his media conglomerate knows plenty about advertising, it is new to amassing political support. According to state campaign finance records, Urban One gave $3.9 million and Churchill Downs donated $3.1 million to a pro-casino PAC in August — more than three times what was spent in 2021.

Churchill Downs, which owns the Kentucky Derby and is an investor in casinos in 13 states, is an equal partner in the project with Urban One. If the referendum passes, it will become a significant part of the company’s holdings in Virginia, which also include Colonial Downs in New Kent County and six Rosie’s Gaming Emporiums across the state.

Churchill Downs CEO William Carstanjen didn’t specify what his company plans to do if the Richmond casino referendum fails a second time.

“This is a project that needs to get done in Richmond … and we put together the team that can do it,” Carstanjen says. “Now we just have to take our message to the citizens of Richmond and convince them, and we think we can do that.”

Richmond lodge appeals court’s casino ruling

A Richmond nonprofit organization is continuing its effort to block the city’s do-over casino referendum — even though the measure is already on ballots and early voting is underway.

Richmond Lodge No. 1 of the Good Lions this week filed a notice to appeal an August decision by a Richmond Circuit Court judge who ruled in favor of the City of Richmond, allowing the referendum to appear on city ballots this fall.

The lodge, a nonprofit that runs charitable bingo games to raise money, filed a motion in Richmond Circuit Court in August to prevent the referendum, which asks voters to decide whether to allow the construction of the $562 million Richmond Grand Resort & Casino proposed by Urban One and Churchill Downs.

Late in August, Richmond Circuit Judge W. Reilly Marchant ruled against the lodge, which claimed that Richmond City Council had not run a competitive bidding process before voting in June to select RVA Entertainment Holdings — a joint venture between Urban One and Churchill Downs — as the city’s preferred casino operator.

Attorneys for the Good Lions, who claim they will lose future gaming revenue if the casino is built, filed a notification to appeal on Wednesday. As of Friday, the Virginia Court of Appeals had not received a brief from the organization. According to the clerk’s office, the appeal may not have a hearing until November. Meanwhile, early voting for the Nov. 7 general elections in Virginia started Friday, including in Richmond.

In a statement Friday, the lieutenant governor of the Good Lions’ Richmond chapter rebuked the judge’s decision that the group lacks standing to intervene in the vote, which is the second casino referendum put before Richmond voters, after the initial referendum failed by 1,200 votes in 2021. This year’s referendum, if passed, would approve a similar casino resort, with a 250-room hotel, a 3,000-seat concert venue, a $26.5 million upfront payment to the city government and a soundstage where co-developer Urban One pledges to invest $50 million over 10 years in TV, movie and audio productions. Richmond Grand would be built on 100 acres in the city’s South Side, just off Interstate 95, on property owned by Altria Group.

“If our charity, which would be decimated by this proposal, doesn’t have standing to bring this case, then no person or organization does, and how can that be the case? The handling of this process is obviously unconstitutional,” said Alexis Prutzman, lieutenant governor of Richmond’s Lodge No. 1 of the Good Lions. “Our work has benefited so many in Richmond and beyond and has given millions of dollars to worthy philanthropic causes, which is motivation enough for us to continue to fight this with everything we have.”

Marchant wrote in his Aug. 23 ruling, “Arguably, Good Lions’ alleged future loss of gaming revenue might be fairly traceable to the 2019 legislation of the Virginia General Assembly allowing casino gambling, but that government action is not what Good Lions seeks to challenge. … Good Lions’ challenge to the City Council’s no bid/no notice process for selecting an operator of the casino, where Good Lions does not seek to be the operator, is not a challenge of government action fairly traceable to its expected loss of revenue,” he concluded.

Two attorneys from national law firm Eckert Seamans’ Richmond office, William H. Hurd and Annemarie DiNardo Cleary, are now representing the Good Lions, a change from the organization’s previous legal representation by Chap Petersen, a Fairfax County state senator who filed the Richmond Circuit Court motion last month. Hurd, a former state solicitor general who has significant experience filing appeals, acknowledged Friday that he will represent the Good Lions.

Chuck Lessin, who owns the bingo hall in Richmond that the Good Lions lease for games and is acting as a spokesman for the casino opponents, said Friday that he doesn’t expect the matter to be settled before Election Day. The state’s appeal process gives the court clerk 40 days after an appeal is filed to make it available to the opposing party and set hearing dates, and counsel for the parties can also ask for extensions.

Even so, if the Good Lions prevail in the court of appeals, the Richmond referendum vote would be considered null and void, said Lessin, who served as chairman of Virginia’s Charitable Gaming Board until he resigned in February after a General Assembly controversy over Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournaments.

If the Good Lions win, the City of Richmond could appeal the ruling to the Virginia Supreme Court, Lessin noted, but added, “Essentially … a yes vote could not supersede the Virginia Constitution. A yes vote could really turn out to be a no vote.”

High stakes

The stakes are high for the casino’s corporate backers, who have sunk more money into the campaign than any other referendum under consideration in Virginia, and even outpaced donations to most state lawmakers and challengers seeking election.

According to Virginia Public Access Project’s finance report for political donations made through Aug. 31, Urban One and Churchill Downs contributed $8.14 million to the Richmond Wins, Vote Yes pro-casino PAC in August, more than three times the 2021 pro-casino campaign budget of $2.6 million. The Richmond Wins PAC also has created its own committee called Richmonders for Good Jobs, and donated $800,000 to it, according to state campaign finance reports.

Richmonders for Good Jobs’ mailing address is listed at 3204 Cutshaw Ave. in Richmond, the same address as the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers’ Local Lodge 10. This year’s casino campaign has featured significant public support from local union members, who have spoken in favor of the project as supporting an expected 1,300 permanent casino jobs with average salaries of $55,000. Since 2021, according to VPAP, Urban One has made donations to state lawmakers in both parties.

Casino backers, including the majority of Richmond City Council and Mayor Levar Stoney, also have touted the project’s projected $30 million in annual tax revenue and $16 million over 10 years in charitable contributions. Stoney also announced that if the referendum succeeds this year, the city will allocate $26 million of the $30 million in annual revenue toward affordable child care as soon as fall 2024. Roughly $5 million would be placed in a Childcare and Education Trust Fund, the mayor said.

But Lessin said that large casinos like the one proposed in Richmond and those approved by voters in Bristol, Danville, Norfolk and Portsmouth “decimate” organizations like the Good Lions, which were the only legal operators of Virginia gaming parlors under state charitable gambling laws before 2019’s General Assembly vote that legalized commercial casinos in the commonwealth.

Charitable gaming also has suffered from the state’s introduction of skilled games, which appear similar to slot machines but let users bet on historic horse races at venues like Rosie’s Gaming Emporium. Those games, Lessin said, have “stripped about 60%” of local charities’ income from gaming, and he expects that the state’s new casinos will likely end most charitable betting parlors in the cities where they are being built, ultimately depriving people and groups that benefit from the Good Lions and other organizations’ philanthropy.

Although the Good Lions or any other charities did not vocally oppose the first Richmond casino referendum because of the City of Richmond’s extended vetting process in 2021, said Lessin, City Council’s 8-1 vote this year to approve Urban One and Churchill Downs’ proposal without considering others led the charity to take action in court. Richmond’s casino backers, he said, “have given millions of dollars in political donations, and they have swayed votes.”

Lessin said that charitable betting accounts for only 1.84% of all gambling in the state — taking into account the Virginia Lottery, sportsbook and other legal gaming options — and that charities are not allowed to make political contributions with their gaming income. Promoters of casinos, however, say they are bringing better jobs and funding for infrastructure, education and other needs in Virginia’s five economically challenged cities approved by the state to hold referendums.

A spokesman for the Richmond casino campaign and the city attorneys’ office did not immediately return messages seeking comment Friday.

Richmond casino reintroduced with new name

The corporate backers of a $562 million Richmond casino on Thursday unveiled a new name for the resort casino city voters will consider approving this fall: Richmond Grand Resort & Casino. But not much else appears to be new about the proposed project.

Many of the features of the proposed ONE Casino + Resort that failed in a close 2021 referendum, are similar this time around, including a 250-room hotel, a 3,000-seat concert venue, a $26.5 million upfront payment to the city government, an estimated 1,300 permanent jobs with an average salary of $55,000 and a predicted $30 million in annual tax revenue and $16 million over 10 years in charitable contributions. Also part of the proposal again is a soundstage where co-developer Urban One pledges to invest $50 million over 10 years in TV, movie and audio productions. The casino, if passed, would be built on 100 acres in the city’s South Side, just off Interstate 95, on property owned by Altria Group.

The chief executives of business partners Urban One and Churchill Downs said Thursday that the plan’s details reflect an extensive survey of Richmond voters who supported and opposed the casino referendum two years ago. They said the project will create a 55-acre park in what has been industrial property, and that locally owned businesses, including restaurants, will have a chance to be part of the resort.

Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins acknowledged Thursday evening at a Richmond news conference that although his media conglomerate knows plenty about advertising, it was new to the arena of building political support.

“It’s no secret that we didn’t make a winning case in 2021,” he said, adding that the casino campaign that lost by 1,200 votes was driven by splashy billboards — rather than conversations with city voters.

“I know that [the] last go-round, we bought every billboard … in the entire city, and you know, it was probably annoying,” Liggins said. “Problem is, we should have been talking to more people, as opposed to advertising to more people.”

In the past year, as Richmond casino backers fought for a second referendum while other state officials attempted to win a chance for Petersburg to vote on a casino, “we have had hundreds of conversations with Richmonders,” Liggins said.

Thursday’s announcement took place at a Shockoe Bottom storefront that will be home to the pro-casino campaign, managed by Richmond resident Tierra Ward, a local elections director for the Virginia Democrats. She said after the news conference that she is still hiring staff. Also on hand were local union members who have spoken in favor of the jobs the project is expected to create, as well as three Richmond City Council members who also support the plan.

William Carstanjen, the CEO of Kentucky-based Churchill Downs, said that when his company purchased Peninsula Pacific Entertainment in November 2022 for $2.75 billion, he was “very aware” of the proposed Richmond casino project, which PPE had partnered with Urban One on in 2021. “We did a lot of due diligence on it. We were really excited about the opportunity. We joined the project after we completed the acquisition, based on the relationship we have developed with [Liggins].”

Churchill Downs, which owns the Kentucky Derby and is an investor in casinos in 13 states, is an equal partner in the proposed casino with Urban One, Carstanjen said, and if the referendum passes in November, it will become a significant part of his company’s holdings in Virginia, which also include Colonial Downs in New Kent County and six Rosie’s Gaming Emporiums across the state.

The new name — which Carstanjen said was one of “dozens and dozens” of suggestions the team heard during conversations and phone and online surveys of city residents — seems to be part of an effort to make Richmonders feel a greater sense of ownership in the project. Liggins declined to say what the budget for the current campaign is, or if it would exceed its $2 million in spending for the 2021 election, but noted, “the reality is, we’re going to invest what we need to get the proper message to as many people as possible.”

Carstanjen didn’t specify what his company would do if the referendum failed a second time, saying, “This is a project that needs to get done in Richmond … and we put together the team that can do it. Now we just have to take our message to the citizens of Richmond and convince them, and we think we can do that.”

Va. Lottery reports record $4.6B in FY23 revenue

Virginia Lottery reported $4.6 billion in sales for fiscal 2023, the first time its sales have broken $4 billion, and record profits of $867 million.

Profits increased almost 10% from the last fiscal year, when the lottery reported $779.6 million. The lottery’s fiscal year ends on June 30, and the lottery board announced the results Aug. 16.

The lottery credited several factors for the record totals. The popularity of instant-win online game sales led to $2 billion in sales. Also, three multistate Mega Millions and Powerball jackpot runs topped $1 billion, and the lottery introduced mobile ticket cashing, allowing players to scan and redeem winning tickets worth up to $5,000 on their mobile devices.

Nearly 5,300 brick-and-mortar retailers earned more than $137 million in commissions and bonuses.

Lottery players won a record $3.4 billion. The largest prize won during the year was a $156.7 million Powerball jackpot.

The Virginia Lottery’s profits support Virginia’s K-12 public schools.

The Virginia Lottery also oversees the licensing and regulation of mobile sports betting and casino gaming. By June 30, Virginia had 16 licensed active sports betting permit holders, and Virginians wagered $325 million on sports betting in June.

Gaming revenues from Virginia’s three current casinos — the temporary Hard Rock Bristol, Rivers Casino Portsmouth and the temporary Caesars Virginia in Danville — totaled $52.2 million in June. In July, the start of the next fiscal year, that number rose to $57.3 million.

At least one more casino is on the horizon. In June, the developers of the $500 million HeadWaters Resort & Casino in Norfolk scrapped plans to open a temporary casino, instead focusing on building the permanent casino.

Richmond might also be home to a casino. In July, the Virginia Lottery and the Richmond Circuit Court approved a do-over of the city’s casino referendum, which will appear on ballots this fall.

Hospitality | Tourism 2023: JIM McGLOTHLIN

McGlothlin has always had an innate sense for a good business opportunity. He built a fortune from coal mines and then pivoted to hospitality as the coal business began to recede.

A William & Mary alumnus, McGlothlin has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a law degree. He started out as a lawyer in Grundy, practicing with two cousins before co-founding United Coal Co. in 1970, going on to acquire dozens of smaller coal companies and mines in Appalachia. United Coal grew into a billion-dollar business by the time it was sold in 2009 to a Ukrainian billionaire’s company.

McGlothlin continued as chairman, CEO and sole owner of his remaining business entity, The United Co., which diversified into a hospitality and wealth management company, with activities including real estate development and coal, oil and gas exploration services and holdings including golf courses, RV parks and a stake in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol.

Virginia Business’ 2022 Person of the Year, McGlothlin successfully led the effort to legalize casinos in Virginia. He stepped down as United’s CEO in 2022, remaining chairman, and is a significant art collector and philanthropist.

Hospitality | Tourism 2023: CLYDE STACY

A former coal mining executive who headed Rapoca Energy, Stacy is a prominent developer and investor in his hometown of Bristol. He purchased the vacant Bristol Mall for $2.6 million in 2018 and partnered with longtime friend Jim McGlothlin, chairman of The United Co., to build Virginia’s first casino. The two friends were instrumental in changing state gambling laws to allow casinos in economically challenged Virginia cities.

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol, a $400 million development, is slated to open next summer. Expected to generate as many as 1,500 jobs, the resort casino will also include a 3,200-seat performance venue and a 20,000-person outdoor entertainment space. A temporary casino opened in 2021.

Stacy was an investor in Dharma Pharmaceuticals, a licensed medical cannabis processor that was acquired in 2021 by Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries for $80 million. In October 2020, the company was the first in Virginia to dispense medical marijuana after the General Assembly loosened cannabis laws. Dharma Pharmaceuticals’ founders filed a lawsuit against Par Ventures, claiming Dharma is owed more than $7 million in relocation expenses for moving out of the Bristol Mall in 2021.