Richmond On line casino Referendum Dropped, Builders Cite State Considerations
The Richmond on line casino referendum that metropolis officers looked for the November 2022 poll is being delayed by a 12 months.
City One CEO Alfred Liggins is foregoing his firm’s earlier plans to reask Richmond voters to log off on a on line casino mission within the Virginia capital. Liggins and Richmond’s native officers say they may as an alternative maintain a second on line casino poll referendum through the November 2023 election. (Picture: Richmond Instances-Dispatch)
Richmond was one among 5 cities the state certified via 2020 laws to think about a on line casino mission. Every metropolis is required to ask their native voters to see in the event that they want to enable a on line casino mission to return to their cities in an effort to generate an financial spark.
Richmond was the one metropolis of the handful chosen that rejected the chance. Richmonders narrowly canned a proposed $565 million on line casino known as One On line casino + Resort through the 2021 election.
Richmond officers, together with the town council and Mayor Levar Stoney (D), consider the citizens bought it incorrect. Town authorities believes a on line casino is in its greatest pursuits and needs to reask voters to authorize the industrial gaming initiative.
However state lawmakers, prompted by state Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond) — who has a political grudge with Stoney stemming from his 2016 mayoral loss — have efficiently blocked Richmond’s 2022 on line casino referendum. Within the state’s 2022-2024 biennium price range invoice, lawmakers included a provision that stops Richmond from holding a second on line casino referendum till November 1, 2023.
Clearer Messaging
One On line casino + Resort was pitched by City One, a Black-focused media conglomerate with no expertise constructing or working a on line casino. It was chosen by the Richmond authorities to be the town’s most popular on line casino developer. The plan beat out proposals from extremely skilled gaming operators, reminiscent of Bally’s, Golden Nugget, and The Cordish Corporations.
City One’s choice raised some eyebrows. And the corporate’s poll marketing campaign, at the least in hindsight, was ineffective.
City One targeted on being a minority-owned firm and probably turning into the primary Black-owned industrial on line casino operator in the US. It did in order a lot because it did on presenting the financial advantages that the vacation spot would offer the area.
The November 2021 on line casino referendum vote was largely break up amongst demographic traces. Extra prosperous neighborhoods voted in opposition to the mission, whereas poorer components of city — together with the Southside, the place One On line casino was to be constructed alongside I-95 — voted within the affirmative. The vote narrowly went in opposition to the on line casino, 51% to 49%.
Morrissey satisfied his State Capitol colleagues that the state ought to take into account permitting Petersburg, which is simply south of Richmond, to host Richmond’s on line casino. The senator persuaded state lawmakers to incorporate the price range provision blocking Richmond from reasking its residents a few on line casino for a 12 months. Thata’s in an effort to enable the state to review the deserves of relocating the gaming license to Petersburg via further laws.
On line casino Developer Folds
With state legislation trumping metropolis ordinances, Richmond officers this week conceded that their deliberate 2022 on line casino referendum would encounter authorized challenges ought to voters choose to help the mission. Consequently, the town is foregoing the 2022 gaming query.
City One CEO Alfred Liggins stated the price range language “has created a battle … and an enormous cloud of doubt” over the deserves of holding a 2022 referendum. Town subsequently introduced its withdrawal of the on line casino query for 2022.
“The Metropolis of Richmond, on the request of our longstanding neighborhood accomplice, City One, is getting ready to file a petition to take away the on line casino referendum from the November 2022 poll. Understanding City One’s reasoning, the town stands prepared to maneuver the proposed One On line casino + Resort ahead in 2023,” a metropolis assertion defined.
