Petersburg casino vote clears General Assembly, now on its way to governor and possibly city voters

RICHMOND – A casino vote in Petersburg got one step closer to jackpot last week after legislation establishing it cleared both the House of Delegates and the state Senate.

Thursday morning, the House voted 78-18 to adopt Sen. Lashrecse Aird’s bill that would put the issue of Petersburg hosting Virginia’s fifth casino before the city’s voters. Shortly after the House vote, the Senate signed off on it 24-16, sending it on the way to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s desk for his action.

The Senate, which passed the bill 29-10 back on Feb. 9, had to vote a second time on it after the House tacked on an amendment saying the issue would have to be voted on a second time “at a subsequent regular or special session” of the General Assembly. Normally, that would put off the official passage a year, but Aird, D-Petersburg, was optimistic that a referendum could happen as early as November of this year thanks to the “special session” language.

Given the legislature’s recent track record of being called back to Richmond by the governor to address issues such as budget stalemates, a special session this year is not completely out of the question.

Thursday’s votes are a culmination of three years’ worth of efforts to land a casino in Petersburg. During the 2022 and 2023 sessions, bills that would have brought legalized gambling to the city failed in a Senate committee.

Opportunities for a third shot brightened up last November when Richmond voters soundly defeated a referendum, the second failure in three years. Petersburg, whose latest push for the casino was roundly criticized for the secretive way it chose a vendor and opposed by local hospitality unions over that choice, decided it would try again, this time with a new process and a new chief sponsor in Aird.

Petersburg began soliciting bids for development of a mixed-use development anchored by a casino. The deadline to get a bid in is March 18.

The likely landing spot for the development is along Wagner Road just off its interchange on Interstate 95, although the city did not specify a location in the bid solicitation. However, one resident suggested possibly bringing it closer to downtown, specifically Exit 52 off Interstate 95 at Washington and Wythe streets.

The city owns most of the old hotel properties on either side of the interstate, and the fourth corner – site of the former Howard Johnson’s and Travel Inn motels – is up for auction March 13.

Barb Rudolph, who calls herself “not a casino fan" but understands the real possibility of one coming, said that should city voters approve it, “there are so many advantages” to possible locating a casino off Exit 52.

“One of them is even building out from that development,” Rudolph said. “Think of what it would do for those blighted parts of Blandford, all those crummy motels people are always talking about wanting to get rid of. It would enhance what is in the downtown master plan.”

She also noted that the latest traffic numbers show the Exit 52 area – with its confluence with Interstate 85 – draws more than 108,000 vehicles a day, more than twice the number who pass the Wagner Road exit four miles to the south.

“Remember when we talked about the big casino resort that was going to be by Wagner Road, that was going to bring people in off the interstate?” Rudolph said. “Well, if you bring it up to 52, you got all those people on 85 that you don’t pick up on Wagner Road. You’re also picking up [U.S. Route] 460 east and 460 west.”

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: Petersburg's casino referendum clears General Assembly