Petersburg hopes to find approval for a casino in the current session
The push for a casino referendum for Petersburg, VA, is now in the hands of the state’s General Assembly. However, this time, the bill has influential support and possibly additional legislation to help the proposal reach enough votes.
Senate Bill 628 doesn’t state that Petersburg would replace Richmond as the fifth city to host a casino. It amends the requirements that would best serve Petersburg by removing the minimum 200,000-population requirement and lowering the minimum rate for tax-exempted real-estate property in 2017 and the poverty rate in 2019.
Additionally, it requires the host city to have a minimum unemployment rate of 13% in 2020. That year, US Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed Petersburg’s unemployment rate at 21.1%.
The bill’s Chief sponsors in the Senate are Senators Lashrecse Aird and Louise Lucas, the chair of the Senate Finance & Appropriations Committee.
Lucas’ involvement automatically boosts the odds of passing the bill during this session. She had opposed a Petersburg casino the last two years, later confessing to The Progress-Index that her opposition was partly because of how Sen. Joe Morrissey advocated to include the city.
Senate Bill 628 will first be presented to the Senate General Laws & Technology Committee, where Aird is a member, followed by the Senate F&A, which Lucas chairs.
Petersburg’s casino push was overshadowed by Richmond’s efforts and the eventual failure of the 2021 referendum in the previous two legislative sessions. The two cities had disputed who would get the fifth casino for two years. Richmond proclaimed the 1,500-vote deficit in 2021 was due to miscommunication and city voters not wholly understanding what they were voting to support.
The 2021 defeat was followed by a 61% “no” vote in November 2023, driving the city to abandon the issue for now.
