Richmond officers plan to re-ask native voters in November to assist a on line casino resort throughout the metropolis’s limits. However state lawmakers crafting Virginia’s subsequent price range might enormously delay the gaming challenge from receiving an working license.
Virginia Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond) is main an effort within the capital to forestall Richmond from re-asking voters to endorse a on line casino challenge. Morrissey as a substitute desires to maneuver the gaming license to close by Petersburg, one other metropolis in his Senate district. (Picture: Virginia Mercury)
Richmond voters throughout the November 2021 election narrowly rejected a proposed $565 million on line casino growth. The challenge was backed by a partnership led by media conglomerate City One and on line casino operator Peninsula Pacific Leisure. Metropolis leaders, together with Mayor Levar Stoney (D), consider voters bought it improper, and {that a} on line casino vacation spot would assist revitalize the Virginia capital area.
Stoney and the Richmond Metropolis Council wish to re-ask metropolis residents in regards to the on line casino. However even when a easy majority backs the gaming referendum throughout this November’s midterms, the most recent draft of Virginia’s 2022-2024 biennium price range features a provision that may quickly bar the state from issuing Richmond a on line casino license.
Members within the Senate Finance and Appropriations and Home Appropriations committees final week included language into the price range that may require the Normal Meeting’s Joint Legislative Audit and Evaluation Fee (JLARC) to first think about the financial advantages of permitting Petersburg to be supplied on line casino privileges.
License Lockdown
Virginia’s 2020 gaming invoice offered economically struggling cities with the possibility to ask their constituents in the event that they assist utilizing a on line casino resort to spur the regional financial system. 5 cities met the qualifying standards, however solely Richmond voters rejected the chance. Casinos are being inbuilt Norfolk, Portsmouth, Bristol, and Danville.
State Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond), who misplaced to Stoney within the 2016 Richmond mayoral race earlier than in search of his Senate seat, has been championing the trouble to relocate Richmond’s untapped on line casino license to close by Petersburg. He argues a second on line casino vote in Richmond goes towards the democratic course of.
After Morrissey’s invoice that may have certified Petersburg as a on line casino candidate failed in committee in February, the senator persuaded his fellow legislative colleagues to incorporate a provision within the price range invoice that may forestall Richmond from internet hosting a second on line casino referendum till a minimum of 2023.
Nonetheless, Richmond Circuit Courtroom Decide Reilly Marchant dominated in March that Richmond can once more ask metropolis voters a couple of on line casino, primarily overriding the price range proposed provision. In consequence, Morrissey took one other route. That tactic resulted within the newest price range provision that may droop the state from issuing Richmond a on line casino license till the JLARC Petersburg on line casino research is accomplished.
They [Richmond] can have a referendum in the event that they wish to, however we simply received’t comply with challenge the license,” stated Home Appropriations Chair Barry Knight (R-Virginia Seaside).
The Virginia Lottery is tasked with regulatory tasks, together with licensing, for the state’s growth of on line casino playing. The state issued its first on line casino allow in April to Onerous Rock Bristol.
Politics at Play
The Richmond Occasions-Dispatch stories that Morrissey’s Senate district is taken into account a swing seat. And with the Democrats sustaining a slender two-seat benefit over Republicans within the 40-seat Senate, the get together will work arduous to maintain Morrissey in workplace.
Whereas Morrissey’s sixteenth District contains elements of Richmond, nearly all of the district’s votes come from south of the capital, in Petersburg and the encompassing cities. Petersburg Mayor Samuel Parham believes his residents are supportive of a on line casino, as it could deliver new jobs, tax income, and financial exercise to the area.
“It will probably rework the Metropolis of Petersburg,” Parham stated final December.
Relocating Richmond’s on line casino license to Petersburg might additionally assist Morrissey’s reelection odds subsequent yr. Backers of the failed Richmond on line casino end result blamed white voters within the metropolis’s extra prosperous areas.
“This definitely places Petersburg on an inside monitor for getting a on line casino license,” Morrissey stated.
