Petersburg casino preview features 900+ slot machines

A temporary casino with 900 slot machines and 30 table games – but still no poker or a sportsbook – will open in Petersburg on Jan. 22, as The Cordish Cos. and Bruce Smith Enterprise finish construction on the $1.4 billion Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia mixed-use development, slated for completion in late 2027. 

Members of the media received a preview Thursday of the temporary 75,000-square-foot gaming facility under a tent-like canvas tarp near the Interstate 95 and Wagner Road interchange.

Dozens of the casino’s 500 employees were at the site, getting trained to run table games or tinkering with slot machine circuits. Cordish Gaming Group President Rob Norton said the venue — Virginia’s fifth casino — is poised to open to the public next week, as announced in November 2025.

On Thursday, the Virginia Lottery Board announced that a limited liability corporation known as PPE Casino Resorts Petersburg became the state’s fifth approved casino operator after  unanimous approval by board members Wednesday. Petersburg residents approved the project in a 2024 referendum where more than 80% of city voters endorsed the casino permit, coming after Richmond voters twice defeated a casino referendum at the polls. 

“’We’re going to bring the Live! experience, even in a temporary facility, into operation,” Norton said. “But the really exciting part is that while all this is going on …. we’ll be building our full gaming resort.”

While the tour Thursday highlighted the casino’s temporary gaming floor and food and beverage service, officials noted that the casino resort will ultimately cover 445,000 square feet with a 200-room hotel featuring 25 suites, a 70,000-square-foot convention and event space, a sportsbook, more than a dozen bars and restaurants, a 22-table poker room, 1,600 slot machines and more than 60 tables for games such as blackjack, roulette and baccarat. 

The casino development team projects it will generate about $2.8 billion in economic activity for the region over the next decade, including 6,100 construction jobs, 1,400 permanent positions and $240 million in direct revenue to the city. 

Petersburg City Manager John “March” Altman, who was not in attendance at Thursday’s media event, said in a phone interview that he expects it will become one of the largest economic development projects in the city’s history. 

“A portion of the revenue will be going to schools, a portion will stay with the city. We’ll invest some of those dollars in economic development efforts, not only in the corridor where the casino is located, but also in our downtown and other areas of the city,” he said. “When it comes down to it, we have some generational poverty and educational issues that this will allow us to tackle.” 

Only four other Virginia cities — Bristol, Danville, Portsmouth and Norfolk — have voted to allow casinos under a 2020 state law permitting them in those localities, as long as local voters approve the plan in a referendum. The adopted bill originally designated Richmond as one of the five cities, but voters there rejected the proposal twice, creating an opening for Petersburg’s bid about 25 miles south of the state capital. The other four cities held their referendums in 2020, and permanent casinos in Bristol, Danville and Portsmouth have been open for more than a year. Norfolk’s Interim Gaming Hall opened Nov. 7, 2025.

The Virginia Lottery reported December 2025 adjusted gaming revenue at the four casinos, and according to Virginia Business’ calculations, they brought in $969.1 million in revenue last year, up 32% from 2024.

Based in Maryland, Cordish made a bid for the Richmond permit, but the city selected media conglomerate Urban One as its prospective partner after publicly considering six development proposals. “I think it worked out great as we’re now here, partnering with the city of Petersburg and the surrounding area,” Norton said. “As we went out and we did our process for the referendum, we spoke to nearly everybody in the community, knocking on nearly every door. We did not leave it to chance or billboards or TV advertising to build that support.”

Joanne Williams, director of communications and tourism for Petersburg, said at the media event that city officials have been in close talks with their counterparts in Danville, where Caesars Virginia opened a temporary gaming facility in 2023, about 18 months before the grand opening of its resort. She said the Caesars facility generated about $2 million in monthly tax revenue in its early stages.

Casino legislation is likely to become a hot topic as the Virginia General Assembly has started its regular session this month, particularly as lawmakers consider legislation to expand state law to allow another casino referendum for the Tysons area.