Bally's, Cordish and River's Casino among the vendors who want to bring gambling to Petersburg

PETERSBURG – A prominent name, an existing customer and a repeat requestor are among the five companies vying for Petersburg’s casino business should the city’s visitors agree to bring one to town.

Bally’s, The Cordish Cos., River’s Casino, Warrenton Group and Penn Entertainment all submitted proposals to build what Petersburg wants to be a mixed-use casino-centric community. Representatives from each company will be in the city April 14 for a town hall meeting hosted by state Sen. Lashrecse Aird.

The vendors were named in Aird’s announcement for the town hall. A Petersburg spokesperson confirmed they were the vendors but did not release any information about how much each of the bids were.

Aird, D-Petersburg, sponsored legislation in the 2024 General Assembly that would make Petersburg the fifth host city in Virginia for a casino. That measure, Senate Bill 628, cleared the Assembly and is awaiting Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s action.

In a statement, Aird called the town hall the latest in efforts to ensure “that the selection of a potential casino operator be a transparent and publicly accessible process.”

“As we move closer to the reality of bringing a referendum to the citizens of Petersburg, we are asking the voters of today to make an economic development decision that will affect the city for decades to come,” she said. “People deserve to be as informed as possible and therefore it’s a personal priority of mine to ensure the vision of each operator is fully explored and that the public has confidence that their interests are represented.”

Of the five, the most recognizable name is likely Bally’s, a major player in casino management for many years. The corporation's flagship casino is in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but it owns 15 other entertainment locations in 10 other states, including the Tropicana in Las Vegas and Bally’s Lake Tahoe in Nevada.

If successful, Petersburg would be Bally’s first Virginia location.

The interest makes sense from a business perspective because Bally’s main competitors already have locations in or near the commonwealth – Hard Rock in Bristol and Caesar’s in Danville; and MGM National Harbor in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.

If the name Cordish sounds familiar, that’s because the Maryland-based development firm was Petersburg’s chosen vendor when the city battled Richmond for the right to host the fifth casino. Cordish unveiled plans for a $1.4 billion development on Wagner Road off Interstate 95 in south Petersburg and supported the city’s unsuccessful bid last year.

On the other hand, that familiarity could breed contempt. Cordish was roundly criticized during the previous business venture on two fronts – the secrecy with which Petersburg awarded the bid and major opposition from a local entertainment workers’ union over claims that Cordish was not labor friendly.

Local 23 supported Richmond over Petersburg for that reason.

River’s Casino is hoping to make Petersburg a sibling to its operations in Portsmouth 76 miles to the East. Its Tidewater location has been wildly profitable, generating an estimated $250 million in state gambling revenue in its first full year of operation.

It also is in the home city of Democratic state Sen. Louise Lucas, Aird’s fellow chief co-patron on Senate Bill 628. Lucas, who chairs the politically powerful Senate Finance & Appropriations Committee, was vehemently against Petersburg in previous attempts – likely attributable to disdain for Aird’s predecessor, Sen. Joe Morrissey.

This year, Lucas has clashed with Youngkin’s over the governor’s proposal to build a $2 billion sports arena in Alexadnria that would be the new home of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals. She fought against funding the arena in the 2024-26 biennium budget to Youngkin’s chagrin, and rumors had been circulated and since denied by Youngkin that he might hold off action on the Petersburg casino to make Lucas cave in to the arena.

The Warrenton Group is a D.C.-based real-estate company that would be making its first foray into the casino business with its Petersburg proposal. According to its website, all of Warrenton’s housing and business properties are in metro Washington.

Penn Entertainment owns 43 casino operations – five each in Mississippi and Louisiana: four each in Ohio and Pennsylvania; three each in Indiana; three each in Illinois, Missouri and Texas; two each in Indiana, Nevada and West Virginia; and one in 10 other states. The two West Virginia properties are in Charles Town, one of them under the Hollywood Casino & Resort brand.

Penn also owns a Hollywood Casino in Perryville, 43 miles northeast of Baltimore.

The Petersburg town hall starts at 2 p.m. April 14 in the Petersburg Public Library.

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Five vendors submit bids for establish a casino in Petersburg