Petersburg's temp casino: Similar to, but not same as, Danville's pre-Caesars building
PETERSBURG – The temporary casino scheduled to open in Petersburg later this year will closely resemble one used to launch gambling in Danville 22 months ago, a spokesperson for the Petersburg resort says.
Crews began clearing space for the prefabricated building on March 19, the same day ground was broken for the $1.4 billion Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia off Interstate 95 and Wagner Road in southern Petersburg. Plans call for building a permanent gaming parlor and 200-room luxury hotel around the 90,000-foot temporary casino that developers The Cordish Companies and Bruce Smith Enterprise say will be up and running by the fourth quarter of 2025.
A Richmond television station reported last week that the temporary building could be the same one used by the developers of Caesars Virginia during construction of its hotel and casino on the site of the former Dan River Industries complex in Danville. However, Andy Poarch, a spokesperson for Cordish/BSE in Virginia, told The Progress-Index that while Cordish/BSE is working with the same company that Caesars used, it will not be the same one.
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'It will be tailored to fit our brand and operating style, and the guest experience we provide,' Poarch said.
The Danville prefab casino, which the news outlet Virginia Business described as looking 'like a simple white tent on the outside,' was 40,000 square feet and housed 740 slot machines, 25 live- and 28 electronic-gaming tables, and a quick-service restaurant called Three Stacks.
Petersburg's temporary casino will be 75,000 square feet and house 900 slot machines, 33 tables, and a bar and quick-service restaurant.
Petersburg and Danville are the only casino hosts in Virginia that used prefabricated buildings for their temporary casinos. Before Hard Rock opened its resort in Bristol, a temporary casino set up shop inside an abandoned mall.
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Size wise, the Live! resort in Petersburg will cover a total of 525,000 square feet of hotel, meeting and entertainment space when it opens in 2027.
It would be the third largest of Virginia's five casino resorts behind the 620,000-square foot Hard Rock Casino resort in Bristol and 587,000-square foot Caesars Virginia. It will be slightly larger than the 400,000-square foot Rivers Casino in Portsmouth and the under-construction similar-sized HeadWaters casino resort in Norfolk.
Its planned 1,600 slot machines would be more than the others in Virginia, which are averaging about 1,500. Petersburg will have 65 live-action gaming tables, about 14 less than Caesars Virginia but more than Bristol, Portsmouth and Norfolk.
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Virginia launched its casino industry in 2020 when the Virginia General Assembly passed – and then-Gov. Ralph Northam signed – legislation setting up casinos in five cities with histories of sagging economic bases. The five original sites were Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Richmond and Portsmouth.
All but Richmond approved referendums to bring the casinos to town. Richmond voters twice rejected plans to build a casino in south Richmond near the Philip Morris tobacco plant.
Between Richmond's votes, Petersburg seized on the opportunity to boost its base with its own casino push. Efforts stalled in the 2022 and 2023 legislative sessions as Petersburg battled Richmond for the fifth casino. After Richmond second rejection in 2023, interest in Petersburg intensified, and in 2024, the General Assembly and Gov. Glenn Youngkin agreed to allow the referendum here.
That referendum passed with an 82% majority, which is considered a record in Virginia for any ballot issue not involving candidates.
In the meantime, population-rich northern Virginia – apparently envious of the popular MGM resort at National Harbor just inside Maryland – has launched its own pushes to host a casino. All have failed, including one earlier this year that passed the state Senate but died in the House of Delegates, as Virginia lawmakers appear content with the five for now.
However, that region is home to the Rose Gaming Resort in Dumfries, owned and operated by the company that developed Rosie's Gaming Emporium sites in Richmond, New Kent County, Vinton in Roanoke County, Hampton, Emporia and Collinsville in Henry County. Because none have gaming tables and the slot machines are set up differently, Rosie's sites are not considered 'traditional' casinos.
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Petersburg's temporary casino will be set up in ready-made building
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