After a members-only meeting that lasted over an hour and a half, the Petersburg City Council, VA, suddenly voted unanimously on April 24 to select Cordish Companies, the company with headquarters in Baltimore, as the designer that will have the opportunity to construct a casino in the financially struggling city.

Abrupt decision:

Nothing on the agenda of the Council meeting indicated that such a crucial ruling could come on the afternoon of April 24. In addition, the members of the Council left the mostly vacant hall without explaining the decision to the few journalists present. A few members told reporters that they had “no comment” when asked for a comment.

No warning was given by the Petersburg City Council that it would make the final decision on the casino developer at its April 24 meeting. The agenda included only a closed session to discuss legal problems involving the law on public procurement and the casino validation process.

At the start of the open session, the Council voted unanimously to add to the agenda a resolution overturning the request for casino proposals submitted by the city and then chose Cordish as the selected operator. The entire procedure lasted only several minutes and consisted of members reading the technical language of the proposal and not explaining why Cordish won compared to other rivals.

A week earlier before the said unanimous vote, John Altman Jr., Manager of the City of Petersburg, formally signed a letter commenting that the said Council planned to choose Bally’s, based on information obtained from a copy of the document acquired by The Virginia Mercury.

Although several cities seeking casinos have decided to solicit bids from many firms, a full competitive bidding process with neutral criteria isn’t required under the casino law in VA to decide which project would be the most suitable for a certain community.

On a related note, in an electronic mail sent in the evening of the same day the decision was made, W. Howard Myers, one of the Petersburg Council Members, pointed out that the basis of the decision was a financial report showing that Cordish was the best choice.

Description of the casino project created by Cordish:

Cordish is known for having tried to build a casino in VA several times in the past, and that is the exact firm that the City of Petersburg chose throughout its first try at a casino two years ago, in 2022.

Furthermore, Cordish is one of the 5 finalists contemplated by Petersburg in 2024, and the firm has revealed intentions to construct a mixed-use entertainment and gambling facility, a 3-phase project valued at $1.4bln throughout 15 years. As for the 1st stage, it will involve an event center, a hotel equipped with 200 rooms and a casino.

The said project, intended to be a collaboration with the NFL Hall of Famer turned Virginia Beach developer Bruce Smith, will be constructed in the southern part of the City of Petersburg at the crossing of Wagner Road and Interstate 95 if voters officially validate it on the ballot referendum planned for November this year.

Political drama:

Since competitive bidding isn’t required for casino projects by the state, as mentioned above, there has been an uncommon volume of political drama about the Petersburg casino plan.

Rebuilding the majority-black city south of Richmond is one of the crucial initiatives of Glenn Youngkin (R), the Governor of Virginia, which has caused a rift between Democratic leaders in the Virginia General Assembly and several Petersburg officials. Also, Democratic lawmakers seemed particularly interested in whether Petersburg (PTB) would choose a developer with good union relations and also put the role of organized labor on a pedestal in fresh economic development projects.

After a bill approving a Petersburg casino referendum passed the Virginia General Assembly in early 2024, lawmakers set the stipulated condition demanding the project to get a second validation round. This allowed the General Assembly to say no if Virginia leaders weren’t satisfied with the course of the Petersburg process. However, the legislature and Youngkin reached an agreement to waive the re-authorization rule last week.

That step appears to have been the driving force behind the aforementioned decision on April 24, according to Lashrecse Aird (D), the Senator of Virginia, who was the representative of the City of Petersburg and commented that the legislation moving forward with the obstacles cleared away “allows Petersburg to be an eligible host city and move toward a referendum for a casino.”

Furthermore, Aird hosted a community meeting at PTB on April 14, where every one of the finalists pitched the community on why their company would be the best fit and introduced their individual plans to the general public.

As for the opponents of the casino project, the former one was Unite Here, a casino and hospitality employees union known for its disagreements with Cordish in the past when the city chose Cordish as its casino designer over the firm’s contract with Seafarers Entertainment & Allied Trades Union, as reported by Richmond Times-Dispatch. However, Rush Street Gaming and Bally’s highlighted their good relationship with the Unite Here throughout their introductory presentations in the City of Petersburg.

Relatedly, Virginia is behind Maryland in setting up a legalized casino market. In this sense, it approved only 5 casino license holders selected by the General Assembly. Additionally, only 4 of the allowed casinos have opened their doors till now, although the vast majority are interim establishments. However, there is also one riverboat casino that technically belongs to Maryland.

After Richmond voters rejected twice to develop a casino in the capital, Petersburg’s hopes for the casino seem to be coming back to life. In addition, even though the legislators approved a possible casino in Petersburg in 2024, they also pulled Richmond from the list of casino-eligible cities, according to Maryland Matters.