Richmond, VA, casino proposals start to arrive in advance of community vote
Right after Virginia agreed to usher in a new era of casino gambling previous calendar year, the race began to see how quickly the state’s industry could be developed. Five cities have been specified as possible targets for gambling residences, as prolonged as neighborhood citizens agreed, and tasks in three are swiftly advancing. Richmond voters will figure out whether or not they want a on line casino in their yard in November, and several on line casino operators are now attempting to earn them in excess of, submitting big proposals to the Richmond Division of Economic Improvement (RDED) in anticipation of the final leg of the race.
The RDED is in cost of overseeing the bidding process and has experienced at minimum 3 proposals cross its desk. One is from The Cordish Firms, which desires to place a $600-million undertaking in Richmond’s famed Scott’s Addition Historic District. Cordish is guiding Stay!-branded casinos in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and envisions a new Live! Casino & Resort Richmond at the previous internet site of a massive motion picture theater complex. That 17-acre internet site would residence a 250,000-sq.-foot gaming ground, a hotel with three hundred keys and a modest enjoyment room with a capability for up to 4,000 people. 
Cordish thinks it’s ideal suited, when compared to the other bidders, for the Richmond project, with Main Working Officer and companion Zed Smith detailing, “No gaming or growth business in the nation has our observe document of productively planning, funding, creating and functioning huge-scale on line casino leisure vacation resort places in regional markets.” However, Cordish executives are apparently unfamiliar with the phrase “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
The on line casino operator is suing one more Virginia metropolis simply because it feels it was jilted out of getting capable to open up a house there. Norfolk, one particular of the other five towns to be focused for a gambling venue, made a decision to pick the Pamunkey Indian Tribe for its casino endeavors and Cordish thinks it was stabbed in the back again as a outcome. It asserts that a 2013 advancement agreement amongst it and Norfolk integrated a promise that it would be presented gaming legal rights if Virginia ended up to legalize casinos.
The Pamunkey tribe is the next applicant to eye Richmond as a potential goal. It has submitted a proposal to the RDED, but no particulars on what it strategies have been unveiled. The tribe is not likely to find good results in the metropolis given that it has no track record in running casinos. The odds of being accredited to start two at the same time are extremely lengthy.
A 3rd proposal has a very good shot of finding help from Richmonders. Urban 1 is a publicly-traded business and, a lot more importantly, a Black-owned entity working “to be the most trustworthy supply in the African-American local community that informs, entertains, and inspires.” It has partnered with the mother or father organization of Colonial Downs to present a $517-million on line casino undertaking that would be found in South Richmond, right throughout the James River from the state’s capital. Urban One particular has exposure to the on line casino sector through its stake in MGM Countrywide Harbor, and also has a great deal of assistance. A latest report by the Richmond Times-Dispatch demonstrates that Richmond inhabitants, of which a slight vast majority are Black, according to census stories, desire Urban One as the likely on line casino operator.