Richmond officers plan to re-ask native voters in November to help a on line casino resort inside the metropolis’s limits. However state lawmakers crafting Virginia’s subsequent price range may tremendously delay the gaming venture from receiving an working license.
Richmond voters throughout the November 2021 election narrowly rejected a proposed $565 million on line casino improvement. The venture was backed by a partnership led by media conglomerate City One and on line casino operator Peninsula Pacific Leisure. Metropolis leaders, together with Mayor Levar Stoney (D), imagine voters bought it fallacious, and {that a} on line casino vacation spot would assist revitalize the Virginia capital area.
Stoney and the Richmond Metropolis Council need to re-ask metropolis residents concerning the on line casino. However even when a easy majority backs the gaming referendum throughout this November’s midterms, the newest draft of Virginia’s 2022-2024 biennium price range features a provision that might briefly bar the state from issuing Richmond a on line casino license.
Members within the Senate Finance and Appropriations and Home Appropriations committees final week included language into the price range that might require the Common Meeting’s Joint Legislative Audit and Overview Fee (JLARC) to first take into account the financial advantages of permitting Petersburg to be supplied on line casino privileges.
License Lockdown
Virginia’s 2020 gaming invoice offered economically struggling cities with the prospect to ask their constituents in the event that they help utilizing a on line casino resort to spur the regional economic system. 5 cities met the qualifying standards, however solely Richmond voters rejected the chance. Casinos are being inbuilt Norfolk, Portsmouth, Bristol, and Danville.
State Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond), who misplaced to Stoney within the 2016 Richmond mayoral race earlier than searching for his Senate seat, has been championing the trouble to relocate Richmond’s untapped on line casino license to close by Petersburg. He argues a second on line casino vote in Richmond goes towards the democratic course of.
After Morrissey’s invoice that might have certified Petersburg as a on line casino candidate failed in committee in February, the senator persuaded his fellow legislative colleagues to incorporate a provision within the price range invoice that might stop Richmond from internet hosting a second on line casino referendum till at the least 2023.
Nonetheless, Richmond Circuit Court docket Decide Reilly Marchant dominated in March that Richmond can once more ask metropolis voters a couple of on line casino, primarily overriding the price range proposed provision. In consequence, Morrissey took one other route. That tactic resulted within the newest price range provision that might droop the state from issuing Richmond a on line casino license till the JLARC Petersburg on line casino examine is accomplished.
They [Richmond] can have a referendum in the event that they need to, however we simply gained’t conform to difficulty the license,” stated Home Appropriations Chair Barry Knight (R-Virginia Seashore).
The Virginia Lottery is tasked with regulatory obligations, together with licensing, for the state’s growth of on line casino playing. The state issued its first on line casino allow in April to Onerous Rock Bristol.
Politics at Play
The Richmond Occasions-Dispatch reviews that Morrissey’s Senate district is taken into account a swing seat. And with the Democrats sustaining a slim two-seat benefit over Republicans within the 40-seat Senate, the occasion will work onerous to maintain Morrissey in workplace.
Whereas Morrissey’s sixteenth District consists of elements of Richmond, the vast majority of the district’s votes come from south of the capital, in Petersburg and the encompassing cities. Petersburg Mayor Samuel Parham believes his residents are supportive of a on line casino, as it will carry new jobs, tax income, and financial exercise to the area.
“It may remodel the Metropolis of Petersburg,” Parham stated final December.
Relocating Richmond’s on line casino license to Petersburg may additionally assist Morrissey’s reelection odds subsequent 12 months. Backers of the failed Richmond on line casino end result blamed white voters within the metropolis’s extra prosperous areas.
“This definitely places Petersburg on an inside observe for getting a on line casino license,” Morrissey stated.