Bristol hopes for bigger share of casino tax

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol this November marked its first year in its permanent facility — a milestone that the city’s mayor says prompted officials to move ahead with trying to change how tax revenue from the casino is divided.

“We’re excited to have them here,” says Mayor Becky Nave, “but we just wish we had a bigger piece of that pie.”

The casino has operated in Bristol for three years, including two years in a temporary facility.

For the two other casinos currently operating in Virginia, Caesars Virginia in Danville and Rivers Casino Portsmouth, each host locality receives the entire local share of state gambling tax, which starts at 6% of a casino’s adjusted gaming revenue. For fiscal 2025, Portsmouth received $19.7 million, and Danville received $18.7 million, according to Virginia Lottery figures.

But in 2020, as the General Assembly approved a casino for Bristol, it endorsed a regional vision. Legislators set up a system where the local portion of gaming tax revenue from the Bristol casino is split equally between the city and 13 other localities.

They mandated that the money be used for public safety, education or transportation infrastructure.

In fiscal 2025, that local portion totaled $13.18 million with interest; the 14 localities each received $941,860 in casino taxes, says Jason Berry, Washington County administrator and a member of the commission that distributes the gaming tax money.

Bristol is battling financial hardships, and its city council approved a 16% real estate tax increase this year. Nave says that the city wants at least half of the local portion of gaming taxes. City officials agreed that after the casino’s first anniversary in its permanent home, they would gather figures on costs such as infrastructure and additional police that could be tied to the casino.

Then, officials will press legislators to revisit how the gambling tax money is split, Nave says. Changing the allocations would require General Assembly approval.

State Sen. Todd Pillion, a Republican who represents Bristol and nine of the 13 other localities that split the money, doesn’t support a change.

The gambling tax money has been “a lifeline to some of these struggling localities,” Pillion says. “If we try to tweak it now, I think we open Pandora’s box.”