In their 2022-2024 biennium budget bill, state lawmakers included a provision that blocks the Virginia Lottery from issuing Richmond a casino license unless its approved local gaming referendum is held “on or after November 1, 2023.”<\/p>\n
\nThis language amendment provides that the Virginia Lottery shall not grant an initial casino license for any host city without a referendum approved prior to July 1, 2022, unless a referendum on casino gaming is held on or after November 1, 2023, and approved by the voters of such city,”<\/strong> the legislature explains on the budget amendment.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nRichmond was the only city of the five that qualified for a casino where city residents rejected the opportunity. Casinos are underway in Norfolk, Portsmouth, Danville, and Bristol.<\/p>\n
Virginia for Gambling<\/b><\/h2>\n
Virginia’s first legal casino opened earlier this month in Bristol. The temporary gaming space is equipped with 900 slots and 20 table games. The facility will operate while the $400 million permanent resort — Hard Rock Bristol — is constructed over the next two years.<\/p>\n
Sports betting was also legalized through the 2020 gaming bill signed by then-Gov. Ralph Northam (D) commenced in April of that year.<\/strong><\/p>\nAfter decades of prohibiting most forms of gambling — the state lottery being the notable exception — Virginia’s newly emerging gaming industry is set for major growth in the coming years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Richmond casino ballot referendum that was to ask city voters how they’d prefer to use tax dollars generated by a theoretical commercial casino in town has been dropped. The Richmond City Council this week decided to forgo the casino money question after City Attorney Haskell C. Brown III advised that the question is not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":224222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,61],"tags":[82130,81995],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Richmond Casino Money Ballot Referendum Dropped by City Council<\/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