Urban One’s proposed casino and resort was pitched for Philip Morris-owned land just off Interstate 95. (BizSense file)
After losing its bet last year on a voter-approved casino, the City of Richmond is weighing another roll of the dice as its neighbor to the south looks to get in on the action.
An effort to revive the city’s arrangement with developer Urban One and hold a do-over referendum on its proposed casino in South Richmond is set to go before the City Council at its regular meeting Monday.
Reva Trammell
The request from Reva Trammell, who represents the Southside’s Eighth Voter District where the casino would be built, was unanimously endorsed Thursday by the council’s Finance and Economic Development Standing Committee.
If approved by the full council, the move would re-establish previously approved agreements between the city and Urban One for development of its proposed $565 million One Casino + Resort and set the stage for a potential second referendum on November’s ballot. City residents narrowly voted the project down last November, with 51.4 percent of voters against it.
In Thursday’s committee meeting, councilmembers said the closeness of that first vote, as well as the project’s potential economic impacts, warrant a second try.
“Having a vote with that many residents that was that close, it is worth taking another bite at the apple,” said Kristen Larson, whose Fourth District makes up the western part of the Southside. The committee’s other members, Michael Jones of the Ninth District and Ellen Robertson of the Sixth, also represent areas in and around South Richmond.
According to city documents, the November referendum saw 38,750 Richmonders vote in favor of the casino, representing about 49 percent of votes cast. The city also notes that voters closest to the proposed casino site supported the project overwhelmingly, with at least 70 percent of voters in each of the Eighth and Ninth district precincts casting a yes vote. The 300,000-square-foot casino and resort was proposed at 2001 Walmsley Blvd.
Trammell, who doesn’t serve on the committee, called into Thursday’s meeting to speak in favor of the requests, which were introduced and referred to the committee at the council’s Jan. 10 meeting.
“So many people have been calling me, not only from my Eighth District but from all over, saying that they definitely want another chance to vote on the One Casino,” Trammell said. “It would bring in jobs, 1,500 jobs or more; it would restart the economic development all over in Southside…
“The people are just begging for us to be able to get another chance at One Casino + Resort, and also to have it in the same location and by the same people,” she said.
If approved by the rest of the council, the city would ask state legislators to schedule a referendum on the casino later this year.
The General Assembly in 2020 adopted legislation allowing Richmond and four other localities in Virginia to host voter-approved casinos, leading to the referendum held for Richmond in November. Referendums in the other localities — Bristol, Danville, Portsmouth and Norfolk — passed in landslides in 2020.
While Richmond seeks a second chance, one state legislator — Sen. Joe Morrissey — is looking to stop that from happening and wants to add Petersburg as a possible casino host.
Morrissey, whose district includes Petersburg, filed a bill at the start of the current General Assembly session that would add Petersburg to the list of eligible cities to host a casino, and prevent any city — in this case, Richmond — that has already held a casino referendum that failed from holding another referendum for at least five years.
Morrissey has said Richmond’s attempt at a second referendum so soon would go against the will of the voters. In session Thursday, Morrissey was not available for comment for this story.
Morrissey’s bill has been referred to the Senate’s Committee on General Laws and Technology. The committee hadn’t taken up the bill for consideration as of Thursday.
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