The unmissable Philip Morris structure along I-95 in Richmond, Va. Adjacent to the tobacco plant could soon be a $600 million casino resort. (Image: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe Richmond Circuit Court made it official last week by signing off on a petition from the City Council seeking to authorize the election question. The court’s August 4 decision was made public this week.<\/p>\n
The court ruled that the petition was filed properly pursuant to the city code, and the referendum is officially ordered to occur during the November election.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nVoters can select “Yes” or “No” to the question of should a casino be permitted in the city of Richmond. The proposed casino will be located just south of the Philip Morris tobacco plant.<\/p>\n
ONE Casino, Many Investors<\/b><\/h2>\n
Richmond’s casino developer has no previous experience developing a casino. Instead, Urban One is a publicly traded media conglomerate that caters to Black America.<\/p>\n
Urban One’s development partner, however, is no newcomer to the gaming industry. The company has aligned with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E) in designing and planning the Richmond property.<\/strong><\/p>\nP2E, based in California, operates casinos in New York and Iowa, as well as five Rosie’s Gaming Emporiums in Virginia that feature historical horse racing machines. P2E is also a minority investor in MGM National Harbor, located outside the nation’s capital in Oxon Hill, Md.<\/p>\n
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Urban One and P2E say they will invest $600 million to build a 100-acre leisure complex. It would be highlighted by a 250-room resort hotel and 100,000-square-foot casino floor equipped with 1,800 slot machines, 100 table games, and sportsbooks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Urban One and P2E are leading the ONE Casino development<\/a> effort. But the project involves a large group of “diverse investors,” the casino website explains.<\/p>\nFifth Potential Casino<\/b><\/h2>\n
Virginia legalized commercial gambling last year, but only for economically troubled cities. Five such areas met a slew of criteria that afforded the cities the right to allow their people to decide whether to use a casino resort as an economic engine.<\/p>\n
Norfolk, Portsmouth, Bristol, and Danville each held ballot referendums during the November 2020 election. And all four casino questions gained adequate support to move the resort proposals forward.<\/strong><\/p>\nOfficials in Richmond opted to wait a year, as the Virginia capital city received robust interest. The ONE Casino + Resort plans beat out several other pitches, including from Bally’s, The Cordish Companies, Golden Nugget, Wind Creek Hospitality, and the Pamunkey Indian Tribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Richmond casino ballot referendum will go before city voters during the Nov. 2 election. If a simple majority say “yes,” ONE Casino + Resort will be authorized to construct its proposed $600 million integrated resort casino. The Richmond Circuit Court made it official last week by signing off on a petition from the City […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":182600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Richmond Casino Ballot Question Approved by Circuit Court<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n