The Richmond on line casino referendum deliberate for this November’s election noticed its odds enhance this week. That’s after lawmakers within the Virginia capital hit a stalemate making an attempt to determine easy methods to spend a $3.6 billion surplus.
The Virginia State Capitol in Richmond. State lawmakers are laboring to move a finances invoice to Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), as tensions over a $3.6 billion surplus stay excessive. The deadlock is probably going enhancing the chances of Richmond voters this November being confronted with a on line casino poll referendum for a second time in three years. (Picture: Adobe Inventory)
Outgoing state Sen. Jim Morrissey (D-Richmond, Petersburg) final 12 months succeeded in convincing his Common Meeting colleagues to implement a finances provision that prevented Richmond from conducting a second on line casino poll referendum. Richmond voters narrowly rejected a 2021 on line casino query for a proposed built-in resort on town’s south aspect. The venture would have been alongside I-95, adjoining to the Philip Morris manufacturing campus.
Metropolis officers wish to reask Richmond residents in regards to the proposal pitch by Black-focused media conglomerate City One. The Richmond Metropolis Council believes a extra coordinated message hyping the potential advantages the on line casino would tip the size in its favor.
Morrissey, nonetheless, believes a second referendum in Richmond would violate the desire of the folks and the democratic course of. He urged lawmakers to permit close by Petersburg to as an alternative contemplate a on line casino, which a state evaluate concluded would nonetheless profit the capital area about 25 miles north.
Price range Block
Morrissey’s petition resonated with the Common Meeting in 2022, because the state’s elected officers determined to position a one-year moratorium on Richmond reasking metropolis residents in regards to the on line casino presentation. That will delay it till the state’s evaluate of a attainable on line casino in Petersburg was carried out. That examine, accomplished by the Joint Legislative Audit and Assessment Fee (JLARC), concluded that casinos can be possible in each Richmond and Petersburg, although every can be significantly extra profitable with out the opposite.
Morrissey had hoped to incorporate one more provision into this 12 months’s finances blocking Richmond from internet hosting one other gaming referendum. That will delay issues till lawmakers thought-about his laws to qualify Petersburg as a on line casino host. Virginia’s 2020 gaming invoice designated Norfolk, Portsmouth, Richmond, Bristol, and Danville as potential on line casino places, as these cities met qualifying financial hardship standards within the statute.
Morrissey, nonetheless, was defeated final month in his Democratic major race and can lose his seat come January. His marketing campaign to dam a Richmond on line casino referendum redo additionally suffered a defeat this week. That’s after Republicans and Democrats failed to seek out widespread floor on easy methods to finest spend $3.6 billion.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) is predicted to name a particular session to renew talks to hopefully treatment the finances negotiations standoff. However because the clock ticks, and Richmond continues to prep its on line casino referendum, the chances lengthen that lawmakers will once more embody language blocking the capital metropolis from internet hosting a second on line casino poll query.
Spending Deadlock
Few states have the privilege of contemplating easy methods to spend a surplus. The spending alternative has resulted in gridlock in Richmond, with Republicans in search of to make use of the surplus funds to supply tax cuts, whereas Democrats want to enhance trainer salaries. Democrats additionally wish to present elevated funding for psychological well being companies.
Virginia has held a surplus for a number of years now, as state tax revenues have soared. State officers have credited better-than-expected tax development, cautious spending, and federal stimulus {dollars} for the excess.
