Richmond voters snub 1 Casino and Resort proposal at the polls
Voters in the central Virginia city of Richmond have reportedly rejected a plan that was to have seen nearby radio broadcaster Urban 1 companion with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment so as to bring a big casino resort to a 100-acre brownfield web site.
According to a supply, the proposed 1 Casino and Resort was due to sit on a plot of neglected land currently owned by tobacco giant Philip Morris International and feature a 90,000 sq ft casino as nicely as a 3,000-seat entertainments venue and a 55-acre park. This $565 million facility to be situated roughly 5 miles from the center of the state’s fourth-biggest city had also been set to host an in-residence sportsbook, a 250-space hotel and a selection of 15 bars and restaurants.
Narrow rebuke:
However, Richmond voters reportedly snubbed this ambitious scheme through a neighborhood Tuesday referendum by a margin of around 51.4% to 48.six% amid fears that the coming casino resort would lead to a rise in crime as effectively as the prevalence of gambling addictions. This outcome purportedly came despite the fact that the developers had spent upwards of $1 million to advertise and promote the planned property’s benefits, which they asserted would have integrated up to $500 million in ten-year direct, indirect and induced tax revenues and community rewards from the start off of about 2025.
Substantial selection:
Headquartered in the nearby District of Columbia, Urban One particular had reportedly in addition noted that its envisioned One Casino and Resort would be the only wholly-black-owned casino in the whole of the United States. It had purportedly wanted to partner with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, which is currently responsible for the Colonial Downs Racetrack venue in the nearby neighborhood of Kent, in order to run a selection of 1,800 slots and one hundred gaming tables in addition to a high-stakes poker room inside the imagined Virginia facility.
Mayoral frustration:
In responding to the snub and the mayor of Richmond, Levar Stoney (pictured), released a statement in which he proclaimed that he would now respect the decision of the voters in spite of being disappointed with their option. The Democratic politician furthermore vowed to continue working ‘to bring other economic development opportunities to our city’ in hopes of benefitting ‘the lives of all who reside here.’
Read the statement from Stoney…
“While I believe this was a $565 million chance lost to create nicely-paying jobs, expand opportunity, preserve taxes low and increase revenues to meet the requirements of our growing city, I am proud of the transparent and public process we went via to listen to our residents and place this chance just before our voters.”
Analogous approvals:
Virginia legislators reportedly passed a measure in April of 2020 that gave five disparate regional communities in ‘The Old Dominion State’ the appropriate to inaugurate Las Vegas-style gambling facilities so lengthy as such schemes received the assistance of the neighborhood population by means of referendums. But as opposed to their compatriots in Richmond, voters in the cities of Norfolk, Danville, Bristol and Portsmouth purportedly earlier sanctioned their personal envisioned casino schemes by way of ballot measures by healthier majorities of 65% or higher.