City One is unwavering in its aspirations to personal a on line casino resort.
City One CEO Alfred Liggins speaks in regards to the Richmond Grand Resort & On line casino on Aug. 31, 2023, in Richmond. Voters within the Virginia capital rejected the on line casino resort pitch, however Liggins says his firm stays excited by constructing and proudly owning a on line casino. (Picture: AP)
City One, a media conglomerate primarily based in Maryland, owns and runs radio stations and tv networks that primarily cater to the Black group. The agency hoped to construct a greater than a half-billion built-in resort on line casino in Richmond. Nonetheless, voters within the Virginia capital twice rejected a citywide poll referendum wanted to authorize the venture.
Richmonders narrowly rejected City One’s 2021 on line casino pitch by a 51%-49% vote. The voters once more rejected the same proposal from City One final month however at a extra decisive price of 62%-38%.
City One, publicly traded on the Nasdaq, launched its third-quarter earnings report this week and met with shareholders and analysts on a name. Throughout the dialog, City One CEO Alfred Liggins revealed that the media firm needs to personal a on line casino.
In March, City One divested its stake in MGM Nationwide Harbor, the richest on line casino in Maryland, simply outdoors the nation’s capital in Oxon Hill, for $145.5 million. City One, in 2016, was welcomed by MGM Resorts to make a passive funding within the built-in resort to diversify the venture’s possession construction.
Future Intent
Liggins on Thursday affirmed the corporate’s intention to pursue one other on line casino stake.
Sure, completely. It’s an important enterprise,” Liggins mentioned. “We made some huge cash on our MGM funding. We made like 3.5 instances our funding.”
Liggins acknowledges that the US financial system is sort of totally different in the present day than when the $1.4 billion MGM Nationwide Harbor on line casino was constructed and opened in December 2016.
“There’s danger. You possibly can overbuild, and rates of interest are larger now,” Higgins mentioned.
Richmond Rejections
Previously often called Radio One, Richmond metropolis officers selected the Silver Spring agency in 2021 because the Virginia capital’s most popular gaming companion. Regardless of missing any expertise creating and/or working a on line casino, the Richmond Resort On line casino Analysis Panel picked City One over competing bids from Bally’s Company and The Cordish Firms, the latter of which operates Stay!-branded casinos in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Richmond’s on line casino analysis panel, handpicked by the Metropolis Council, sought to supply social fairness by choosing City One. The proposal, often called ONE On line casino + Resort in 2021, was greater than half of a billion-dollar endeavor made via a partnership with on line casino operator Peninsula Pacific Leisure (P2E). The on line casino proposal concerned greater than 50 particular person buyers, a lot of whom recognized as minorities.
Unfazed by the 2021 will of Richmond’s residents, metropolis officers and Mayor Levar Stoney (D) initiated a second gaming referendum, with City One remaining its improvement companion. For the 2023 push, City One was partnered with Churchill Downs after it acquired P2E.
The change didn’t matter, as capital residents rejected the on line casino once more. The vote was divided amongst social demographics, with wealthier areas extra against the venture than extra blue-collar neighborhoods.
Maryland Alternative?
City One creating a on line casino in its dwelling state of Maryland, the place the corporate is greatest identified, can be splendid. Maryland’s gaming regulation restricts the variety of casinos to 6. Nonetheless, there are pathways to increase the business, as state voters have a latest observe file of backing gaming enlargement questions.
Throughout the November 2008 election, Marylanders handed a statewide poll referendum that amended the state structure to permit slot machines at 5 venues within the counties of Anne Arundel, Cecil, and Worcester, plus a metropolis on line casino in Baltimore and one other on state property in Rocky Homosexual State Park.
Desk video games had been approved via a subsequent referendum that handed in 2012. That very same 2012 referendum query included the authorization of a sixth on line casino, with that license finally being awarded to MGM.
In 2020, voters additional expanded gaming with retail and on-line sports activities betting.
There at the moment are efforts to legalize iGaming via yet one more gaming referendum. May City One persuade state lawmakers to incorporate a provision on the web playing query to permit a seventh on line casino within the Outdated Line State? That’s purely hypothesis presently, however Marylanders appear prepared to proceed rising the state’s authorized playing choices.
