Virginia ‘Casino Lady’ Sen. Louise Lucas Says State Has Enough Casinos, at Least for Now

Virginia Senate Pro Tempore L. Louise George Lucas (D-Portsmouth) successfully championed lawmaking inward 2020 that ended the state’s long inhibition of commercial message gambling casino gambling.

Dubbed the “Casino Lady” for her repeated attempts to grant one-armed bandit machines and tabularise games in the commonwealth, George Lucas is taking a different coming inwards 2023. After quaternion cities passed local referendums authorizing casinos inwards their towns, George Lucas says the say should take a breathing space before farther expanding gaming and qualifying additional cities to deliberate gaming initiatives.

Richmond residents were the only city to scorn their cassino opportunity created through and through Lucas’ 2020 gaming measure, which garnered bipartisan support inwards the say Senate and House of Delegates. Casinos are beingness reinforced inwards Norfolk, Bristol, and Danville. Rivers Casino Portsmouth opened last-place month at the cost of $340 million.

Legislative efforts make since ensued to relocate Richmond’s unused gaming license in the south to nearby Petersburg. But George Lucas believes the body politic should allow the casinos that get been sanctioned to open up first.

“I say we starting with these foursome and depart from there,” George Lucas told WAVY-TV.

Along with Rivers Portsmouth, Hard John Rock Bristol has opened a temporary gaming blank inside the former Bristol Mall. Hard Rock’s $400 jillion lasting resort hotel is localise to undecided next year.

Caesars Entertainment inward Danville is go down to unfastened its temporary cassino facility in July. Caesars is investment $650 billion to establish Caesars Virginia.

Finally, the Pamunkey Indian Tribe is constructing a $500 trillion cassino holiday resort in Norfolk on the banks of the Elizabeth River called HeadWaters Resort & Casino. HeadWaters hopes to open up its have provisional gaming infinite this year.

Lucas Seeks Pause

Lucas’ 2020 billhook allowed cities that met certain economical hardships to mull casino undertakings. Petersburg did not see the conditions, which included a universe decline of at to the lowest degree 20% from 1990 to 2016, a minimum 20% poverty grade inward 2017, and an unemployment rank of at least 5% in 2018.

State Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond), whose dominion encompasses often of Petersburg, led the exertion to qualify Petersburg Campaign as an eligible casino host. Morrissey, as substantially as Del. Kimberly Elizabeth Taylor (R-Dinwiddie), who introduced a similar billhook this year to tolerate Petersburg a casino privilege, say Petersburg has faced similar economic struggles as the other sanctioned communities and that a casino thither would do good the total working capital region.

A feasibility study on the merits of allowing Petersburg Campaign to innkeeper a cassino was conducted by the state’s Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission. JLARC concluded that a cassino inwards Petersburg would live profitable, and it allay would follow if a cassino should ane twenty-four hours come up to Richmond.

Petersburg’s preferred gaming developer, The Cordish Companies, says it’s only if interested in investment $1.4 one thousand million into an structured gambling casino resort inward the community of interests if Richmond is prohibited from further considering a gaming development.

Committee Consideration

Morrissey’s 2023 legislative sweat to denominate Petersburg as a gambling casino innkeeper failed cobbler's last week inwards a Senate committee. Taylor’s amount remains alive, though it faces engross odds of reaching Gov. John Herschel Glenn Jr. Youngkin’s desk (R).

Taylor’s statute — House Bill 1373 — passed the House last-place hebdomad past a 49-44 vote. The vizor has since been directed to the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology.

Lucas says she’ll defer to the citizens committee whether further give-and-take on the thing happens this year.

“We’ll lead it pretty often upward to the committee to adjudicate whether or non there is place for another casino,” she concluded.

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