Revenues up 26.6% year-over-year
Josh Janney //March 13, 2026//
Photo by AdobeStock
Photo by AdobeStock
Revenues up 26.6% year-over-year
Josh Janney //March 13, 2026//
February gaming revenues at Virginia’s three permanent casinos and Norfolk’s new temporary casino totaled $95.2 million, according to Virginia Lottery data released Friday.
Norfolk’s temporary Interim Gaming Hall, which opened Nov. 7, 2025, reported adjusted gaming revenue (wagers minus winnings) of about $975,609 during the month. All of that came from its roughly 132 slots, as the temporary casino doesn’t have table games. A permanent $750 million Norfolk casino, being developed by Boyd Gaming and the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, is anticipated to open in 2027.
And in its first full month of being open, the temporary Petersburg casino reported nearly $15.02 million in AGR in February, with about $11.21 million coming from 926 slots and $3.81 million coming from 32 table games. The temporary casino opened on Jan. 22. Baltimore-based The Cordish Cos. and Virginia Beach developer Bruce Smith Enterprise broke ground in March 2025 on the $1.4 billion Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia, slated to open in 2027.
Virginia’s newest permanent casino, Caesars Virginia in Danville, opened in December 2024 and reported the largest adjusted gaming revenue for last month: approximately $31.82 million. Of that, nearly $23.05 million came from its 1,497 slots, and the remaining roughly $8.77 million came from its 94 table games.
Rivers Casino Portsmouth, which opened as Virginia’s first permanent casino in January 2023, generated $18.44 million from its 1,420 slots and $7.98 million from its 84 table games, for a total AGR of approximately $26.42 million in February
Last month, the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol reported about $20.92 million in AGR, with nearly $17.06 million of that coming from its 1,366 slots and about $3.86 million coming 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.
February’s total AGR for Virginia casinos is up about 17.5% from January’s AGR of $81.02 million and up 26.59% from February 2025’s $75.17 million.
Virginia law assesses a graduated tax on a casino’s adjusted gaming revenue. For the month of February, taxes from casino AGRs totaled roughly $17.13 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 February, all localities received 6% of the respective casino’s AGR. Danville received almost $1.91 million from Caesars Virginia. Portsmouth netted nearly $1.59 million from the Rivers Casino Portsmouth’s AGR. For the Bristol casino, the locality tax collected on its adjusted gaming revenue — coming to about $1.26 million last month — goes to the Regional Improvement Commission, which the General Assembly established to distribute Bristol casino tax funds throughout Southwest Virginia. Norfolk received $58,537 from the temporary casino, while Petersburg received $901,105.
The Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund receives 0.8% of total taxes — approximately $137,027 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 $34,257 in February. The Interim Gaming Hall will give $9,756 (1% of the monthly total) to the Virginia Indigenous People’s Trust Fund, as state legislation directs 1% of gaming proceeds from any tribe-operated casino be given to a fund to assist the other Virginia tribes that are federally recognized. The remaining almost $11.24 million in taxes goes to the state’s Gaming Proceeds Fund.
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