Virginia casinos report $85.4M in May revenue

May gaming revenues from Virginia’s three casinos totaled $85.39 million, up $6.63 million from April, according to a June 13 report from the Virginia Lottery.

Last month, Hard Rock Bristol casino reported about $23.027 million in adjusted gaming revenues (wagers minus winnings), of which about $18.74 million came from its 1,423 slots and about $4.28 million came from its 73 table games. (The Bristol casino’s temporary facility opened in July 2022, making it the first operating casino in Virginia. The permanent Hard Rock Bristol opened in November 2024.)

Rivers Casino Portsmouth, which opened as Virginia’s first permanent casino in January 2023, generated about $20 million in May from its 1419 slots and about $8.3 million from its 84 table games, for a total AGR of about $28.31 million.

The state’s newest permanent casino, the Caesars Virginia resort in Danville, reported almost $34.06 million in AGR, with about $24.76 million coming from its 1,477 slots and roughly $9.29 million coming from the casino’s 100 table games. The $800 million Caesars Virginia opened in December 2024, replacing a temporary casino that opened in May 2023.

Virginia law assesses a graduated tax on a casino’s adjusted gaming revenue. For the month of May, taxes from casino AGRs totaled nearly $15.37 million.

Under Virginia law, 6% of a casino operator’s AGR goes to its host locality until the operator passes $200 million in AGR for the year, at which point the host locality’s tax rate rises to 7%. If an operator passes $400 million in AGR in the calendar year, that rises to 8%.

For May, Portsmouth received 6% of the Rivers Casino Portsmouth’s AGR, getting about $1.7 million. Danville received 6% of the Caesars Virginia casino’s adjusted gaming revenue, amounting to roughly $2.04 million. For the Bristol casino, 6% of its adjusted gaming revenue — about $1.38 million last month — goes to the Regional Improvement Commission, which the General Assembly established to distribute Bristol casino tax funds throughout Southwest Virginia.

The Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund receives 0.8% of total taxes — about $122,958 last month. The Family and Children’s Trust Fund, which funds family violence prevention and treatment programs, receives 0.2% of the monthly total, which was approximately $30,739 in May.

Two more casinos are on the horizon in Virginia.

Construction began on the long-awaited $750 million Norfolk casino in February. The Pamunkey Indian Tribe remains a partner, but Boyd Gaming replaced Tennessee investor Jon Yarbrough in 2024. A temporary casino is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Developers named Ron Bailey as vice president and general manager for the forthcoming casino earlier this month.

In November 2024, more than 80% of Petersburg voters said yes to the city’s casino referendum. Baltimore-based The Cordish Cos. and Virginia Beach developer Bruce Smith Enterprise broke ground on the much-anticipated $1.4 billion casino in March.

In May, Rivers Casino and Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming announced they are planning to break ground on a $65 million hotel in Portsmouth this summer, more than two years after the casino first opened.